


baby, you and I, we were born to shine

by jamesniall



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, M/M, some lil bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-26
Updated: 2014-09-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 14:14:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2028138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamesniall/pseuds/jamesniall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall’s voice is quiet and soft when he lets out a  “thank you” and stands on his tiptoes to reach Harry’s cheek and kiss it gently.</p><p>He smiles shyly at him, and takes a step back. Looking back at the window trying to hide his blushing cheeks, and says, “The sandwiches must be waiting for us. Let’s go Haz, I’m starving.” And it’s loud and bright again, it makes Harry smile, because there’s something about Niall that makes it so easy, to give the other a nickname so carelessly, but making it sound so personal, to share a small kiss on the cheek and then burst out shouting how funky the noises his belly is making are.</p><p>Niall makes it easy, simple, and Harry’s thankful his dad decided it was time to clean the chimney.</p><p>,</p><p>Or, Niall is a chimney cleaner and Harry finds it hard to not fall for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	baby, you and I, we were born to shine

**Author's Note:**

> well, hello! it's taken me an absurd amount of time finishing this thing, it's ridiculous, i've had the prompt and i started back in 2012 but i kept getting lazy and unmotivated and only now i got to finally finish it, and i'm really hoping all the wait was worth it.
> 
> I don't have much to say, there are not many warnings tbh, this thing is pure fluff with some bits of smut and the tiny bit of drama and angst that will never lack in my fanfics.
> 
> i hope you like it, i hope you leave kudos, i hope you tell me what you think!

Niall wakes up at 5:30am on what seems to be a cold, rainy wednesday and he groans.

The only noise in the room is the annoying sound of the alarm clock pounding in his ears but he doesn’t want to open his eyes just yet to turn it off. He tries to orientate himself, stretching out his arms and searching blindly for his bedside table where he swears he put the alarm clock last night.

He has a long day ahead of him, he knows that if he doesn’t get up before six Liam will wake up first and get all the hot water for himself, and the weather is already cold enough to have a bath with freezing water.

Niall can feel the cold spreading through his limbs so he just turns to his side and lifts the sheets up to hide his face and arms so his whole body is hidden underneath his warm quilt of blankets. If he could, he would stay there for the rest of the day, but he can hear the creak of Liam’s door, meaning he’s up and ready for the shower, so he jumps straight out of bed, not bothering to put on his slippers, and sprints down the hallway till he grabs Liam’s arm, he half yells-half whispers, “I've been up for fifteen minutes, I deserve the shower first!”

He probably looks ridiculous, if Liam’s smirk is anything to go by. He’s just wearing his boxers and an oversized derby jersey he wears when the nights get too chilly, his hair is messy and his eyes are still half asleep. And yeah, Liam is laughing now and he has that glint in his eyes no one could ever have at five in the morning.

“I’m just going to use the toilet, Nialler, I told you I don’t have class today, seems like you forgot.” He smiles and Niall really wants to wipe off the smug look on his face. He’s freezing in the damn hallway with still sleepy eyes that are kind of burning, protesting at the light coming from the bathroom, and Liam is pretty much laughing at him.

He mutters a curse and goes to his room to grab his towel and his slippers because  _the tiles are fucking cold and this hour of the morning_  while Liam goes for a wee and Niall can swear he was giggling before he got to the toilet, the bastard.

He runs into Liam again, just when he’s about to knock on the door because he’s gonna be late if he doesnt shower right now. “When are you leaving?” Liam asks him while he washes his hands.

“Dunno exactly, I have to be at Mrs Smith's house before 6:30 so I reckon in less than an hour, why?”

“I wanted to make you breakfast” Liam shrugs.

“Really? Liam you woke up at this time in the morning because you wanted to be sure I ate a proper breakfast?” he wants to laugh, because really is just absurd to wake up this early on a day off just because your best friend needs to eat a good breakfast. But he doesn’t, because there’s a fuzzy and warm feeling spreading through his chest and toes that’s making him smile and kind of blush, and suddenly all he wants to do is hug Liam, maybe kiss him on the cheek. Or he could just save the kiss for after breakfast.

Liam just shruggs again, “Well, you’ve got a long day today and you always leave eating like, a little snack. And I usually don't bother you about it because I know you have breaks during work and you eat lots of junk food," he chuckles shaking his head, "but today you’ll be busy so it’s better safe than not having energy while climbing up one of those chimney monsters, right?”

Niall didn’t need that much of an explanation, really, it means a lot to him but it makes him uneasy when Liam does these kind of things. He can’t really help with buying groceries and filling up the fridge, and making breakfast means using Liam and his parents’ food, he feels like he’s stealing away something.

“Hey now, don’t think about it yeah? You’ll be late and you’re not bothering me by making you breakfast." he says, grabbing Niall by the shoulders, "Plus it’s just for today, don’t you dare get used to me cooking for you! Now go shower, smelly head.” He says ruffling Niall’s messy hair.

Niall’s laugh is raspy when he lets it out and before Liam exists the bathroom, he grabs him by his arm and hugs him, tight. “Thank you, Payno.”

Liam laughs too, but it’s fond, and soft,  like this is a conversation only meant for them to hear, “Don’t mention it, now don’t take too long or my delicious pancakes will get all cold, yeah?”

He nods and closes the door, briefly wondering where in the world he would be if it wasn’t for Liam.

 

\--

 

Harry is absently watching a documental for one of his classes while he tries to write down some notes without pausing the video. But after a good ten minutes of trying to not fall asleep, he closes his laptop and lies lazily on the sofa in his living room.

His dad had left about twenty minutes ago, for work, and said that it was better to watch the documentary now and not later when he would be more tired and without any will to watch it, not that he had any right now, it's his day off, so why the hell would he spend it watching a boring video for a class he really doesn't care at all?

He was almost,  _almost_  on the verge of falling asleep when a perky voice startled him out of his slumber "What are you up to, Haz?"

"Uh, what? When did you get here?" he asks quite dumbly, trying to sit up to keep himself awake. Louis would never let it go if he fell asleep on him.

"I just arrived. Marta opened the door and told me you were doing some shit for a test but you're clearly not" he answers, finding a comfortable position on the couch next to Harry.

“Well yeah, I was but I really couldn’t care less about that test. I got it” Harry shrugs.

“so smart you are” Louis says, poking him on his sides, “what are you gonna do today, then?”

“Stop it, fuck. I dont know, my dad told me someone was coming today to clean the chimney or something and that I had to be here in case he couldn’t come, so I think I'm staying here for today” he mumbles the last part as he tries to tone down a yawn.

“Yeah, your chimney deserves a good wash, it’s all grey and nasty” Louis says, half joking. The chimney is old, big, imposing and beautiful in the biggest wall of the living room.  _Magnificient_  is what his mum used to call it.

“Heeey, I love that chimney!” Harry whines, shoving Louis away with his feet and playfuly hiting his arm. “You’re the nasty one here.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. But at what time did he say they were coming to clean it?”

“Afternoon I think? He said around three or four, don't remember” he shrugs again.

“C'mon Harold, you have to be here at four and it’s not even nine in the morning. Don't tell me you’re staying here doing nothing all day!”

“My dad thinks im studying, it's easier to lie if I actually stay in for today” Harry replies nonchalantly.

“You can always ask Marta to cover you up and you know it. You're just a lazy knob" 

Harry shakes his head, he doesn't have a clue of what Louis has in mind, but he also doesn't know what he'll do alone if he stays. “Okay then, I'm gonna talk to her, but wherever we are going, keep in mind I have to be here at two because my dad said he wanted to meet the chimney cleaner himself, and if he gets here earlier than us, we're fucked"

“Calm down, curls. We’ll be here in time you’ll see. Now that it's settled, I’ll be waiting in the car”

 

\--

 

It’s 1pm and Niall is exhausted.

He’s been at Mrs Smith's house since 6:30 in the morning. She had called the day before, at a very annoying hour at night, saying she needed him to finish his work today, mentioning something about holding a tea party and needing her living room clean. Chimney included.

It took him six hours to finish the work he usually does in two days, so to say he’s tired out of his mind is and understatement. He doesn't complain though, because he got paid in advance. She gave him a good pat on his back and a few more pounds because she knows he worked hard.

But now he’s hungry and uncomfortably sore. The chimney had been too cramped for him to find a good position to work on and his shoulders and arms are killing him.

He buys a hot dog with the extra bit of payment he got and walks slowly towards Liam's house (he’s been living there for two years now, but he still can’t call it  _home_ ). His legs feel heavy and his knee is sore, but that’s just rutine for him at this point. After you're hooked up to a harness for six hours your legs don't quite function when you’re back on your feet.

 

The neighborhood is kinda crowded at this time of the day. It's lunch time, and people are meeting up with family and friends, there are work meetings at the fanciest restaurants and kids running around the playground, but Niall doesn't feel like stopping and having a chat like he normally does. He’s made plenty of acquantainces since he got here and people recognize him and greet him in the streets with a warm and familiar _“Niall! How’s it going, mate?”_  and he sticks around for a while, talking to old couples and women with their strollers while they have a walk around the park. Sometimes he helps that girl, Rosie, who works at a flower shop and lost her sense of hearing when she was a baby. She has teached him a bit of sign language and Niall enjoys spending the evenings with her. She's a brilliant and sweet girl who reminds him of a younger version of his mum.

But today he’s tired, so he greets and waves hello to some of the people he knows but goes straight to Liam’s, and as soon as he makes it to his room, he collapses on top of the bed.

He’s still sticky with sweat and his jacket is dirty and dusty but he couldn't care less about ruining the sheets at the moment, he likes to keep them clean, his whole room is always neat and the bed is always made. But right now, he just needs to sleep. And stay still for at least a week. And a massage would be a godsend gift now that he thinks about it.

He can wash the bedding later. (or when Liam’s mum starts fretting about it.)

There’s a knock on the door, the typical Liam-like knock on the door that Niall has grown so fond of.

He remembers that night, after a couple of pints, when Liam told him that he had his way to knock doors so people knew it was him. Niall had taken it as a joke. It had sounded funny and ridiculous and he had laughed it off back in the day, but he has to accept is nice, to hear that rhythm of knuckles and fingers tapping at the door after a long day, because somehow, Liam always appears when Niall needs him the most.

"Come in." His voice is muffled by the pillows, sounding more like a moan than a shout but the door creaks open, meaning Liam got the message.

"Hey, when did you got here, I didn’t hear you come in?”

Niall makes an effort to turn around to face Liam, he really does, but his body doesn't cooperate. "Yeah, I just opened the door and flown over to my bed. Haven't moved since. Sorry I didn't say hello.”

“That's okay. You must be tired. How was it by the way? I expected you to come earlier maybe, did you finish?”

"Yeah it's done. Worked my ass off but the chimney looks clean as new. Mrs Smith even gave me extra money, bought a hot dog on me way here” he mumbles, trying hard to not keep his eyes closed for longer than necessary or he will fall asleep.

“Woah you finished something that usually takes you what? Three days?” Liam asks, sitting closer to the mess that Niall is and starts rubbing small but strong circles on his back.

Bless him.

"Two days, yeah" He yawns, "but at least I got time to rest off, no more cleaning for the day, just have a meeting in a huge house with an apparently important and rich family at four, but I have till then to shower and eat and maybe a nap too" he yawns again, huffs an indignant laugh when Liam laughs at his teary eyes. "Yeah, definitely a nap, before everything."

Liam is still rubbing his back, and it's making Niall even more drowsy. “Wait, are you talking about the Styles household?” the older asks curiously, pressing the palm of his hand on the right spot and Niall swears he could fall asleep any moment now.

“Hm, yeah? I don't remember the full name but I'm sure it was Styles. Why? Do you know them?”

“Yeah, you could say," Liam replies, "the youngest son, Harry, he has a class with me and I've gone to his house to finish group projects a couple of times. The house it’s huge Nialler, you're gonna fall in love with that chimney!” Niall has his eyes closed, but he knows Liam is smiling.

“Really?” Niall inquires, getting excited all of a sudden. He's always been passionate about his job, especially when it comes to big chimneys. It makes him remember all those times back in Mullingar when he used to go with his dad to help him out, he saw plenty of chimneys and he was always starstruck by some of them. He feels a pang of homesickness just thinking about his dad, but he shrugs it off as Liam continues on describing how big the house is.

“I would offer you something to eat but you already had a hot dog, so you should probably take a nap to get your energy back. And you really need a shower, mate” he finishes with a laugh, still rubbing Niall’s back soothingly.

Niall knows he must look terrible, with smudged clothes and dusty hair, he still can feel his cheeks flushed and his forehead sticky, but Liam is doing wonders with his hands and he's definitely going to fall asleep now.

“Cheers Liam, I know. But don't stop, I’ll sleep and then shower, just,  _god_ , just keep doing that thing with your hand." 

Liam chuckles and lets Niall re-accommodate himself so when he falls asleep it's not in an uncomfortable position and won't wake up feeling even more sore than now.

"Just, if I'm not up before three wake me up so I'm not late, yeah?” Niall mumbles, already half asleep.

“Yeah, sure. Now shush, sleep, Ni.”

 

\--

 

Harry and Louis manage to arrive back at Harry’s house on time. His dad arrives literally ten minutes after them and Harry has to deal with the  _I told you so_  looks Louis is giving him.

They are having lunch, together, and Harry honestly doesn't remember when was the last time all the seats of the table were occupied, it looks empty all the time, it's usually just Marta and him during breakfast, lunch and dinner, so having Louis and his dad there as well makes it looks more cosy, not familiar, but he likes to pretend.

His dad is talking to Marta, first about how hot it is today, then how tasty the cupcakes she made this morning were, but then somehow they end up talking about how clean the chimney used to be when his mom was still present, how shiny everything looked, how it felt like _home_. And Harry has to force himself not to listen, it makes him angry sometimes, how his dad is all day out because he’s working and traveling and it’s always workworkwork, but yet he comes back all nostalgic saying that Harry never has time for him,  _that’s how teenagers are, right Marta?_  Harry wants to flip the table.

He does have time, he’ll always have time for his dad. But when he finds some time to spare with his son, it always ends up in lectures about his studies, his future, about how great it will be if Harry adds just another economics class to his packed up schedule, because it will be useful for when he takes over the family business, about how online curses are never too many, that he has to soak up in information about how to run a company by himself. It's exhausting. If it wasn’t for the fact that Louis is still there eating his lunch, he would have gone upstairs to his room to don't come down again for the day. (But he has a heart, and he thinks it would be vile to let Louis alone with his dad, so he stays).

They talk, and somehow Louis gets involved in the conversation so Harry feels useless there, he's just glaring back and forth whenever his dad opens his mouth to speak. He stands up to help Marta with the dishes, he thinks he's better at that than at trying to look comfortable when his dad, his maid and his  _best friend_ are talking about his life.

He’s halfway through the cleaning the last plate when the doorbell rings and he faintly hears Marta saying she’ll go, followed by the creak of the old door that no one has been able to fix. Louis enters the kitchen two minutes later, with a smug look on his face that makes Harry's stomach churn.

“There’s this cute lad standing in the living room saying he’s gonna make your chimney look like it’s from a catalogue so I think you should go get some” he winks, “I gotta go ‘cause I have things to read for class tomorrow, and  _you_  have a blonde to woo." He says, pointing a crooked finger on Harry's chest, "Cheers mate, tell Marta the food was delicious, I'll see ya tomorrow!”

Harry is left alone in the kitchen with a weird feeling in his stomach, He wonders if he should go over and meet the guy or just stay locked in his room everytime he comes to clean the chimney, but he has no other option than to go and meet him, because Marta is here now;

“Harry, your dad needs you in the living room, the chimney sweeper just arrived” Harry makes a face, “sweetheart, remember he said you had to be there to meet him too.” She says with a soft smile, Harry loves her so much.

“Yeah, yeah I know, I'm coming, I just-“ his sweatshirt is all wet still from washing the dishes and his hair is a mess, though he has a feeling that Louis was just mocking him and the guy is probably and old man with a huge belly and a messy beard. He prefers to look somewhat presentable anyway, just in case it turns out the boy  _really_  is cute and Louis was actually right, the only way of knowing is to just come out of the kitchen and see him himself.

“You’re alright, love”, Marta says, brushing a bit of his hair off his face, but Harry is sure he’s gonna make a fool of himself.

 

\--

 

What Harry first notices about Niall is his smile.

He’s standing in the middle of the living room, talking to his dad, wearing a pair of simple and kind of dirty overalls. He can see a white t shirt underneath, probably a bit too big for what seems to be a small frame, he’s wearing a pair of converse that look way too big for him, but the overalls are too short on the legs so Harry can see his white socks.

He’s holding a paperboy hat in his hands - which Harry considers kind of funny because he hasn’t seen one of those in years - but pushes the thought off his head and keeps looking at the boy who’s smiling kindly and nodding at whatever his dad is telling him. Harry wonders if he’s really the chimney cleaner. He just looks  _so young_.

His hair is messy, long at the top, shorter at the sides and bleached blonde. He has rosy cheeks and a cute nose, but Harry can’t stop looking at his smile. It’s like, perfect, if Harry is being honest with himself, bright, eager and beautiful, pleasant to look at. But suddenly his dad is approaching him and now the boy is looking at him and  _oh_ , he has blue eyes, and even if the room as always been well illuminated, Harry swears it has a new source of light, like Niall is  _glowing._

Harry feels ridiculous.

“Niall, this is my son, Harry, Harry, this is Niall, he’s going to work here for a few weeks fixing that old chimney of ours" he says pointing at it, as if Harry isn't aware of where it is, "you’re gonna see him around a lot. I already showed him the chimney and the garden but if you’re not too busy maybe you can please show him the kitchen and Marta’s room, so he knows where he can change after work and all of that" he adds, looking down at his clock and doing that thing he does with his eyebrows when he has somewhere to be, "I’m afraid I have to leave now but Harry is a nice kid so I’m gonna leave you with him, later Niall, hope I can stay longer next time!” he shakes Niall's hand with what seems like more force than necessary, but Niall's smile doesn't fade one bit.

“I'm sure we'll cross paths again" Niall says with a breathy laugh, "have a good day Mr Styles.”

(The second thing Harry notices about Niall is his accent. If it was an appropiate thing to say, he would ask him to keep talking.)

Harry's dad leaves with a final pat on Harry's shoulder, a last smile towards Niall and a knock on the kitchen's door as a goodbye to Marta, and then he’s gone. Just him and Niall in the too-big living room. Niall is still standing quite awkwardly in the middle of the room, as if he’s waiting if Harry's going to say something. He thinks maybe he should introduce himself, even though his dad already did that, so-

“I'm Niall” the blonde finally breaks the silence, lifting up his hand and taking a step closer to Harry, he grabs it quickly and Niall gives it a gentle but firm squeeze. He’s warm, but not warm as  _hot_  but warm as  _comforting_ , “it’s amazing to work here, I’ve heard lots of nice things about how big this house is! You’ve got a huge one mate, it’s ace.” Niall says, breaking eye contact to look around his surroundings. 

"Thanks, it- it is huge. I can show you around later if, I don't know, you want? And I'm Harry”

Now he truly feels absolutely ridiculous. 

But before Harry can start questioning every choice he has ever made in his life and before he can start regretting ever opening his mouth, every trace of worry or awkwardness is wiped off the room as soon as Niall laughs. Is loud, Niall doesn't hold it back, and Harry feels enthralled by the sound of it. He feels happy and he doesn't have a single reason why, but it’s nice. Niall is nice.

“You don’t talk much?” Niall asks, popping his bubble of thoughts.

“What? No- yeah. I mean, I do it’s just-“ he made a fool of himself for the umpteenth time in less than ten minutes, and he’s not sure if Niall is laughing at him or with him, but he likes it anyway.

“You’re cute, Harry.”Niall smiles, a cute and small dimple magically appearing on his cheek.

“You are too.” Harrt says with a shy smile, trying his hardest not to look down. Knowing it was worth it when he doesn't miss the blush that spreads across Niall's cheeks and neck.

“Thanks.” Is Niall the one that ends up looking down, playing with the loose thread of a green bracelet he has on his wrist. Harry is completely endeared.

“So" Harry clears his throat, "You’re a chimney… cleaner?”

Niall chuckles soflty at Harry’s question and looks back up when he replies, “Yeah, I am, I know I look like I'm not more than, what? eighteen? But I'm twenty and I’ve got years of practice at this things” he says with a proud smile.

“That’s cool,” Harry says, it seems like he forgot how to speak.

“It’s not cool with certain chimneys ‘cause some are too small and I can't even proper fit inside. But mate, yours it's just, like the queen of all the chimneys I’ve ever worked with” Niall explains, shaking his head, as if the fact that spending the next few weeks cleaning that thing gives him an unimaginable amount of joy.

“Worked with chimneys? That’s how you word it?”

“Yeah” he shrugs and Harry smiles. 

“You have to start working today?” Harry can’t help but ask.

“No, not today, I start in a few days, your dad is yet to tell me when I have to come. If he's planning on giving me a schedule, that is. I just wanted to check out the chimney and see if what I’ve got is enough to work with and just, the space around the chim' and stuff”

“Oh so, you want to take a look to the rest of the house?” Harry asks, "If you're not busy, of course"

“You gonna gimme a tour?” Niall's smile is enchanting, Harry swears Niall is luring him with it.

“If that’s how you wanna call it, then yes, a tour it is” he says shrugging, as if is not a big deal the fact that only Louis and Liam have seen his whole house. He doesn't have that  many friends. 

“Of course I'm staying for this, let's get it started then!”

Harry lets himself stop thinking about bullshit right now, he ignores the goosebumps he feels in his skin when Niall's arm brushes his, ignores the anxiety, the nervousness creeping in his insides, he just lets himself go, wills himself to stop thinking and enjoy Niall’s company.

He does have a blonde to woo after all.

 

\--

 

Harry starts with Marta.

Mainly because she’s like a mother to him and secondly because she’s always around, she's the one most likely to keep Niall company when Harry's at uni and his dad is working, so their first stop of the ‘tour’ is at the kitchen.

“What smells so good?” Niall asks as soon as Harry opens the small door that leads to the kitchen.

“It’s Marta”

“Marta smells good?”

“No, I mean, well yes she does” Harry chuckles, “but she’s the one cooking, c'mere.” He guides Niall until they reach the kitchen door and yeah, she’s there, with her neat, always nice smelling uniform that she doesn't even have to wear, no matter how many times Harry and Des have told her, she always responds the same; it’s easier and less messier.

“Marta! Hello.” Harry cheerfully announces his presence.

“Hi Harry- Oh you’ve got company!” She says when she turns around from the stove, a warm smile on her face.

“Yeah, I’m here to introduce Niall, the chimney cleaner, but he also wanted a tour around the house.” Harry explains quite dumbly.

“Oh, yeah, we saw each other briefly, but he got busy talking with your dad and I never got the chance to say a proper hi, but anyway, I’m Marta. I just do things around the house, but don’t call me maid, please, just Marta!”

“Name’s Niall.” the blonde says, reaching out his hand towards Marta but she grabs his arm and kisses his cheek.

“It’s really nice to meet you Niall, hope Harry’s being a good lad and making you feel welcome.”

”Uh, yeah, he- he really is.” Niall blushes. “This is a lovely house, from what I’ve seen of it. Not gonna feel like a job at all when I come to clean the chimney” he smiles.

“You’re the one doing that nasty job?” she asks surprised, “Your dad talked to me about it,” she says looking at Harry, “but I always imagined an old smelly man with a huge belly and ugly pants.” she laughs and Niall laughs too, loud and proud. Harry smiles because both of their laughs are contagious.

“Old, fat and smelly mans are just the stereotype, I’ve heard that many times before. I’m twenty but I assure you I know what I’m doing.”

“You sound confident so I trust you with that monster.” Marta smiles kindly at him and Niall laughs again.

“It’s huge isn’t it, I still don’t know how long’s gonna take me to finish it, so I’ll be here bothering ya’ll for a while probably!” he says, Harry finds himself absolutely endeared.

“You’re not bothering, you’re a sweetheart!” Marta voices his thoughts.

“Uh, Niall, do you mind if we continue with the- showing you around?” Harry inquires with an awkwardness that Niall wipes off the air when he stands up straighter and puts a bright and determined smile on his face.

“The tour! Yeah let’s go.” He turns around and now he’s the one who kisses Marta’s cheek, holding her hand and squeezing softly, “It was wonderful to meet you, Marta!”

“You’re lovely, Niall, go ahead now, when you two are done there will be sandwiches and tea ready.”

“You’re the best!” Niall shouts before they exit the kitchen and Harry wonders if Niall makes friends so easily everywhere he goes.

 

\--

 

It takes them almost an hour to finish the tour, basically because Niall was captivated by everything, the high ceilings, long walls, framed pictures and every family photo, every fancy flower or decoration caught his attention easily and he kept stopping Harry every two steps, asking with wide and curious eyes the story behind certain photo or certain porcelain.

But out of all the things Niall admired, he was absolutely overwhelmed by Harry’s room.

It’s big, of course it is. The bed is in the middle of the room and there are two small night tables at each side, with a lamp and a clock and some of Harry’s belongings he uses daily. There’s a desk, actually, two of them, one with his computer and books and another one, which is bigger and it’s clean and empty. Where he sits when he needs to concentrate on homework or when he gets attacked with the urge of writing a song, but that’s only for him to know.

There are some shelves, a huge flat TV and a closet for clothes and a closet for shoes.

But Harry’s (and now Niall’s) favourite thing is the window that leads to the balcony. It’s, _huge_. It occupies most of the room and it leads to the biggest terrace of the house. The view from there it’s breath-taking. Whether it rains or it’s sunny, it always looks beautiful. It’s Harry’s place to relax and find peace, focus on the little things when the world around him is going too fast for him to catch up. It helps when he wants to escape his own life.

“This is wonderful, Harry.” It’s almost a whisper, loud enough for Harry to hear the _it feels so fucking good to be here, look at the sight!_  he always gets when he’s here and that Niall doesn’t says. He’s always wanted someone to share it with, someone who wanted to escape too, sometimes, to a little untouched part of the world where you can just sit and watch how nature keeps on going always, even when you can’t see it happening before your eyes.

“I know. It’s an amazing place to come when you feel like you need an out of the real world” Harry says, keeping his voice soft too, because it seems appropriate.

“It’s perfect. I could live out here” Niall says, half-joking. Harry actually thinks someone could live in there, except maybe when it rains. He would need to let Niall in and warm him in a quilt of blankets while cuddling in his bed. He doesn’t know where all this thoughts are coming from but he really wants them to stop.

They stay there for a while, close enough to each other, Harry’s sweater lightly brushing Niall’s bare arm.

“Marta probably has the sandwiches ready” Harry breaks the silence, voice sounding raspy, he clears his throat, glancing at Niall who looks lost in his thoughts, Harry feels like he’s interrupting something, “She doesn’t like when you make her wait, she despises when food gets cold.”

Niall backs away from the railing and looks at the sky one more time, as if it’s the last chance he has to see it and he wants to memorize it all. Harry wants to tell him he can come here whenever he wants, but Niall talks first, “Let’s go then. And, thank you, for showing me all of this you know, we just met an hour ago and you showed me your whole house, and this” he says, looking back at the sight before him, “thank you, Harry.”

Harry doesn’t understand why it means so much to Niall, he just showed him around the things he sees every day, doesn’t see anything special about it, but there’s something in Niall’s voice, in the way Niall looks at him, that gives all of this a meaning. Makes him feel like he just did the most amazing thing in the world, so he smiles, and looks down at the smaller boy, suddenly noticing how close they are, almost too close, but none of them pull apart and none of them look away.

Niall’s voice is quiet and intimate when he lets out a soft “thank you” and stands on his tiptoes to reach Harry’s cheek and kiss it gently.

He smiles shyly at him, and takes a step back. Looking back at the window that it’s more like a glass door, and says, “Marta must be waiting for us. Let’s go Haz, I’m starving.” and it’s loud and beaming again, makes Harry smile, smile so wide because there’s something about Niall that makes it so easy, to give the other a nickname so carelessly, but make it sound so personal, to share a small kiss on the cheek and then burst out shouting how funky the noises his belly is making are.

Niall makes it easy, simple, and Harry’s thankful his dad decided it was time to clean the chimney.

 

\--

 

Niall goes home later that day, with his stomach full and a sated smile on his face.

Marta’s sandwiches and whole presence had been wonderful, she made him feel welcomed in a place where he would have felt out of place under different circumstances, and he’s thankful for that. If Harry’s right, Marta will be his only company during most of his working time, seeing as Harry has uni and his dad has a demanding job. He’s not bothered at that, though. Maybe he was a little disappointed when Harry said he wouldn’t be there most of time, but after he had managed to sneak out Harry’s number, with the excuse of “let me know when your dad wants me to start, yeah?” even though he knew Mr Styles was most likely to give him a call himself, he still got away with what he wanted. And he had a feeling Harry wouldn’t be against sparing a few weekends to hang out.

He’s still surprised by how well it all went. And he tells Liam just that. From start to finish. From how a small and kind woman opened the door and let him in right away, to wanting to snog the life out of Harry. He doesn’t skip a detail. He glushes about how delicious the food smelled, how on point the sandwiches were, and how cute Harry’s dimples are, and Liam listens, with a small but happy smile on his face, and a soft chuckle when Niall gets too thrilled talking about Harry.

“I’m so proud of you, Ni.” Liam says at the end of Niall’s whole speech, “just look at you, humble and small chimney cleaner, working for one of the richest families in town, and trying to woo their youngest son, eh.” he squeezes Niall’s knee playfully and Niall laughs off a blush.

“Come off it, I’m not trying to woo him, as you put it, that’s ridiculous” he mutters, but Liam still catches the smile that’s slowly tugging at his lips, “I don’t know a thing about him.”

“And what does that have to do with anything?” Liam presses, hitting softly Niall’s thigh, “he doesn’t know a thing about you either, but you already saw his whole house. It took me five group assignments for him to show me around a bit, and he did it only because I had gotten lost way too many times trying to find the toilet.”

Niall laughs at that, of course he does, looking at Liam like he’s the biggest dork in the world, but somehow managing to do it with fond and admiration shinning in his eyes. Liam will never get used to the amount of emotion Niall can transmit through his eyes.

They stay in a peaceful and comfortable silence for what feels like ten but wasn’t more than a minute, and Niall speaks, looking a bit more serious and pensive than before, “That was a bit, like, weird, you know?”

“What was?” Liam asks, even if a part of him knows what Niall’s getting into.

“The whole showing me around his house, like, what the hell? It’s just – not that I didn’t like it but, what the hell?” Liam turns to look at him, and Niall’s face is sour, like he has just sucked on a lemon, but he doesn’t look upset, just, confused. “I’m a stranger, like, I could have  robbed whatever and he just, he let me in, Liam, not many people ever do that” he stops, and Liam can hear him taking a deep breath, “hell, no one has ever gave me a tour around their house, and he just did it so easily and, he trusted me, like, so fast? And it made me, made me feel good, I guess, like, other people treat me like I’m a thief or something, they _hide away_   their stuff, Liam, I’ve seen people taking away watches and porcelains away from their chimneys, as if I would just steal them.” He chuckles suddenly, but it sounds fake and ugly. He reaches out a hand to mess up his hair, “No one has ever tried to make me feel as welcome as he did, you know? Like, not implying that people are rude to me, because they aren’t. But sometimes I feel inferior to them. I don’t clean chimneys to make friends but, but something in the way Harry treated me made me feel like I’ve been missing the genuine friendliness of it.”

Liam is at a loss of words when Niall finishes, he doesn’t even know if Niall wants him to say something, or if he just wanted to vent, so he squeezes his hand, long and comforting, “You’re a great person, Nialler. The people who don’t take a few minutes to get to know you are the ones losing it.”

That makes Niall smile. He’s not an insecure person, he never has been. But sometimes he needs reassurance, needs a bit of approval, wants to keep the smiles on people’s faces and needs someone to keep his feet on the ground as he does so.

“Do we still have pop corn?” he asks after a while, feeling like the serious chat is over and he’s quite hungry again. Liam laughs next to him.

“Deep conversations fasten your metabolism, Nialler?”

Niall chucks a pillow at him. “I was about to offer you a movie night, Liam Payne. Don’t fuck with my appetite.”

Liam just laughs again, throws the pillow back and goes to the kitchen to get the pop corn started, just as he hears Niall calling out his name and asking if they can watch “The Godfather” Liam chuckles fondly, shaking his head, knowing that whether he answers or not, Niall is going to put that movie on anyway.

 

\--

 

Niall gets a call early the next Saturday morning. He was already up (thank God), brushing his teeth after a warm shower when his phone buzzed up on the toilet’s lid where he had put it so it wouldn’t get wet accidentally.

 _Haz_  is what he reads on the screen, and he answers without a second thought.

 

-

 

Harry had been dreading the phone call for a good 24 hours. After breakfast the day before his dad had told him to call the blonde to let him know he could start working on Monday, they would set up a schedule then. And Harry had to pretend he didn’t already have Niall’s number saved in his phone.

But Harry is pathetically nervous.

He thinks it’s the fear of making a fool of himself once again, though he also thinks that’s stupid, because he doesn’t have Niall in front of him, won’t get lost in the swirl of colours of Niall’s eyes and won’t get hypnotized by his smile. So technically, this should be easier.

Except it’s not. Because is still _Niall_  and Niall makes him feel things he can keep in check.

He presses the “call” button anyway. Crossing his fingers in hopes to get the voicemail to answer instead of Niall. But he’s never had much luck in life.

“Hello?” Niall’s voice booms through the phone’s speaker.

“Hi, hm- it’s Harry. This is Niall’s number, right?”

“You hit the right number, mate, I’m here!” he cheerfully says and Harry forces down a smile.

“I- well, my dad wanted to let you know you can come next Monday?” he hates how it comes out as a question, because it shouldn’t be a question at all. Monday mornings are the only time his dad has free on the weekdays, so Niall has to come or he has to come.

“Sure!” Niall is quick to reply, “tell me at what time and I’ll be there, you just have to say it.”

Harry is sure Niall is an angel.

“Yeah, early in the morning works for you?” there he goes. Asking again.

“What’s early for you? Or, well, for your dad. It’s to talk to your dad about my working days and stuff, yeah?”

“Yes, he’s free from seven to ten a.m, he says he wants to clear up a bit about your working hours and the payment, I don’t know” he chuckles awkwardly.

Niall shoots back a loud laugh, “That’s okay for me yeah, I’ll be there by eight, I think, maybe before? Depends on how bad it is to grab a bus at that hour on a Monday” he cackles again.

“Sure, yeah, traffic can be heavily problematic at that hour, to be honest.” Harry inquires.

“Damn, then I’ll wake up a bit earlier!” he says, “I’ll see you on Monday, then” he says positive and Harry hates what he’s about to say.

“Actually, I don’t think we’ll get to see each other. Have class at 7:30”

“Oh, bummer. It will have to wait then. I wanted to hang out for a bit, you know, you’re a shitty texter, I haven’t heard a word from you since Wednesday!” he sounds like he’s joking, but Harry regrets all the times he wasn’t brave enough to send him a quick text the past few days.

“Yeah, sorry for that. I’ll be better” he laughs softly, “and, uh, I have to go now, but, yeah I hope I can see you soon.”

“Okay, won’t take more time away from you, have a good day, Haz”

Harry still gets quite breathless at hearing Niall calling him _Haz_ , so he misses his cue to reply, and when he croaks out a “see you later”, the line is already dead.

 

\--

 

As promised, Niall goes to the Styles Household on Monday. He wakes up and showers early, even before Liam is up, and has breakfast ready for the two of them when the eldest comes fresh from the shower but still quite sleepily stumbling down the stairs.  

“Up early, are we, Nialler” Liam says, “Harry seems to be a good motivator, I’ve never seen you so awake at six in the morning on a glumly Monday” he teases with a small smile on his face.

“What can I say? He’s a charmer. Luring me to his house at this miserable and cold hour.” Niall shrugs, fixing his hair and putting up the paperboy hat he wears when it’s a working day.

“Have you washed that thing lately, Ni?” Liam idly asks, struggling with a bite of toast that it’s too big for his mouth.

“Yeah, of course, who do you think I am? I washed it on Saturday. It smells good as new” He says, throwing a last glance to the small mirror they have by the front door and messing with the bit of his hair that’s poking out of the hat. “You know I never let it get too smudged anyway.” He turns to look back at Liam, who’s finishing his breakfast, “You have class at 7:30, right?” Liam nods, “Leave everything in the sink, okay? Don’t bother washing anything, you’re already kinda late” he winces playfully.

“But you made breakfast!” Liam whines, “Only because I’m late I’m gonna let you win this one, but you know we have a deal”

“The one who cooks doesn’t wash, yes Liam, I know!”

“I’ll do the dishes the next two times, okay?”

“You’re losing time, Liam” Niall condescendingly says. “We’re like a married couple” Niall chuckles, making a disgusted face.

Liam laughs as he climbs up the stairs, “glad to know the idea makes you so joyful!” and Niall laughs right back. “But you have a curly haired dude who you probably want to marry.” Liam says, peeking his face out of the bathroom’s door and sticking out his tongue at Niall.

“That’s ridiculous!” Niall laughs. But they both know he was blushing.

 

\--

 

The meeting with Harry’s dad is short and to the point. He, first of all, states that by no means Niall is allowed to call him Mr Styles anymore. Just Des. And Niall feels more comfortable after that.

They settle that he’s gonna work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Four hours each day. Considering the size of the chimney, and the fact that it not only needs cleaning but also maintenance, Niall says it could be ready in 2 weeks roundabouts.

“If you want, now that you’re already here, you can start working today. I’ll pay you every Friday by the amount of hours you have worked per week” Des says, “Just write down the time you start and finish working and leave it with Marta, okay? I’ll be leaving now.  Have a few things to sort out at work, but you know Marta is there for any question you have. Goodbye Niall”

He leaves with a handshake, same as the first one - strong and crushing - and Niall starts working right away.

 

\--

 

Harry gets home at lunch time, exhausted and nursing a killer headache. He’s struggling to keep his bag on his shoulder and the door away from his face when he sees Niall.

He’s perched up on a ladder that looks similar to the one he has seen in the yard, his hair is sticking to his forehead and his cheeks are pink from exertion. Harry doesn’t have a clue about what he’s doing; he just knows he wants to put his hands on him.

He looks concentrated on what he’s doing, a frown set in his brows and his eyes set on something in between his gloved hands.

Harry feels a bit hypnotized by the whole scene, because Niall looks. He looks _good_ , all sweaty and messy in a pair of dirty jeans and a simple white shirt that looks like it’s been through hell and back. He gets something out of his left pocked – a hammer, Harry dumbly notices – and the muscles in his arm flex as he pounds something on the wall. Niall is not big, but he’s built up for his small frame. His arms look strong and his shoulders big. Harry wants to stare at him the whole day but-

-right in that moment, Niall decides to look up. Setting his eyes on Harry, who probably has his mouth open and is drooling down his chin.

“Harry, mate! Didn’t hear you come in!” He cheerfully greets him, climbing down the ladder fast and getting his gloves off, trying to get his hair on some sort of control but failing adorably.

“No I just, literally just walked in. How are you? I didn’t think you’d start working today” he smiles at the blonde who’s taking big steps across the living room and getting closer to Harry in an increasing speed.

Harry isn’t expecting it when Niall engulfs him in a quick hug. It’s too quick for him to get the smell on Niall’s neck, but long enough to feel his warm arms around his chest.

“Sorry, I- kinda wanted to do that. God, I probably look so gross right now” he shakes his head, chucking softly to himself. Looking up to Harry again, and grinning at him, “Uh, Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“You haven’t closed the door”

 

\--

 

They have lunch together, after Harry gets over the embarrassment of keeping the door wide open the ten minutes he spent staring at Niall, Marta announces that lunch is ready, and kindly invites Niall to sit with Harry in the big table instead of eating in the kitchen.

It doesn’t take them long to start a conversation, but Harry gives all the credit to Niall and his angelic way of making him feel nervous yet safe at the same time. He finds it easy to talk about his day when Niall is the one who’s asking, who’s looking at him with wide and attentive eyes, soaking up the things Harry tells him about his lectures and the essays he has to write.

And it’s weird, in a really nice way. Because Harry has people who genuinely care when they ask him about his day and about how’s uni going. But Harry always finds himself cutting his stories short. Trying not to bore them out and make them leave. But with Niall is not like that at all. Harry talks and talks and Niall _listens_. At some point their conversation isn't about how Professor McKinley hated his guts but about that one time Harry fell in the swings when he was five, and it’s nice and comforting. Harry feels content in a way he hasn’t felt in years.

Marta comes into the room to pick up their plates, but they both refuse to let her. Stubbornly but gently swatting away her hands and taking their dishes to the kitchen themselves. They have a good laugh about it, but at the end, Marta insists on washing them, telling Niall to go back to work and Harry to go start his homework, making them feel like kids and holding back their laughs as they exit the kitchen.

They part ways after closing the kitchen’s floor, Niall going back to the chimney and Harry going up to his room. He changes his clothes to something more comfortable, checks every notebook and cringes at the only homework he has due for tomorrow.

It’s Spanish, and Harry hates Spanish. He can cope with a shit ton of economics class, but when it comes to Spanish, Harry is absolutely unmotivated.

It’s not like he hates the class, or the teacher, or anything like that. It’s just that he’s not good at it, not one bit, and as much as he tries to understand every lecture, Harry’s hopeless.

Sighing and knowing he won’t get anything done, he decides to do something he hasn’t done since he was eight. He grabs his books and his pen, goes downstairs and settles everything down on the dining table.

He’s always preferred to study up in his room or out in the balcony. But having Niall right there in the living room, well, why not?

Niall notices him after ten minutes of sitting there pretending to revise his notes, the blonde sends him a small smile and a little wink that has Harry’s inside twisting rather painfully, and he smiles back. They don’t say a word, both set on not interrupting or disturbing the other.

 

An hour later, Harry has read the same page about fifty times and Niall is packing up his stuff to leave.

“Are you leaving now?” Harry asks, looking up to Niall and setting his book aside.

“Yeah, my four hours are up” he smiles, “plus, all I could do for today is done. I hadn’t planned on working straight away so I didn’t bring like, all of my tools with me, just focused a bit on the outside of the chimney for today, which is the easiest part” he says, both turning to look at the chimney, Niall had fixed some dents and holes on it, making it look a bit different from what Harry was used to. “Tomorrow I’ll bring my harness and everything to start the actual action of it all.” he chuckles softly.

“Harness? Are you gonna like- what? Go to the top of it?” Harry inquires confused and fondly insulted when Niall _giggles_  at him.

“What else did you expect?” he laughs, “I always start from the top of the chimney until I wash and fix all the way down” Niall explains, moving his hands as he speaks, “Not gonna lie, your chimney is a bit, deteriorated, it needs a good wash, but it also needs to have a bit of fixing here and there, to make sure that when you use it, the whole house doesn’t set on fire.”

Harry nods slowly, then asks, “well, then I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I come back on Wednesday, and then Friday. Your dad’s orders.” Niall smirks, “though if you want me to come back tomorrow...” he shrugs, tugging the side of his mouth down and managing to look adorable and get a laugh out of Harry.

"No, that's okay. I have class the whole day anyway. I'll see you next wednesday." Harry smiles at him. Niall nods and gives him a quick but crushing hug before he leaves.  

 

\--

 

The next time they see each other is on Friday. Harry had gotten home late and tired after a long lecture on Wednesday, and missed his chance to see Niall again. Marta had opened the door with a sympathetic and kind of sad smile on her face, “he already left, love” she sighed out. And yeah, Harry sadly sighed too.

Now, on Friday, Harry is home early, but now it’s Niall the one who’s late.

 

He waits him for an hour, mindlessly watching some crappy soap opera Marta had on in the small TV she has in the kitchen. He tries hard to ignore the looks she’s giving him, he knows it’s only a matter of time until she opens his mouth and tells him to get the fuck out of her kitchen in a very gentle but commanding voice.

He _knows_  Niall doesn’t have an specific time for work, but Harry thinks it’s ridiculous. He thought that, seeing as he’d been arriving early and staying for lunch the first two days, he’d be doing the same for the next two weeks. Maybe he’s the ridiculous one here, but he’s not ready to accept it.

“Harry, sweetheart, don’t you have homework to do?” Marta starts, “you’ve been glaring at the T.V for an hour and Niall hasn’t showed up yet. I’ll let you know when he’s here, but please, love, you’re not doing anything here.”

“It’s Friday. I do have a Spanish project to work on but that’s the only thing I have due for next week. And it’s Friday. Can’t I just watch my favourite soap opera with my favourite Marta?” he asks, going for his innocent look and snorting when Marta squeezes his cheeks.

“We both know you don’t even know the name of this TV show, and you’re not watching nor letting me watch. If you’re gonna mop about Niall’s absence, go do it elsewhere.” Marta says, and Harry turns to look at her, mocking an offended look. “Don’t look at me like that, young man. You miss him and you’re bothering my free time” she has her hand on her hip and a teasing smile on her face. But Harry recognizes the fond always present in her eyes.

“I don’t miss him,” Harry pouts, “and I’m definitely not moping.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

“Marta! I’ve known the guy for _two days_  I do not miss him!” Harry knows he sounds stupidly desperate. But he’s still gonna try to win this one.

“Love, he left an impression on you. Don’t even try to deny it. The begging doesn’t suit you. Why don’t you go start homework, I’ll make some biscuits and I’ll tell you when he’s here”

“But _It’s Friday._ ”

“That’s the third time you say that.” Marta smiles at him, “Darling, you perfectly know that Louis is most likely to sneak his messy head in here tomorrow and take you to do whatever you do with him.” She says, matter of factly, “and you’re lazy on Sundays. Go get that project off your shoulders.”

Harry exaggeratedly sighs and shakes his head, “You’re so demanding” he says, with the hint of a joke in his voice. Marta smiles at him one last time and before Harry closes the kitchen door she shouts, “I’ll tell you when your prince charming is here!”

Harry groans, but the sound of her laugh makes him smile anyway.

 

\--

 

Niall finally arrives at two pm, right when Harry is sitting – again – in the dining room table with a huge stock of books, a banana and a bottle of water.  

Marta is letting him in, Harry hears them chatting a bit in the front door until the distinctly creak of the door closing rings in his ears and he can see them approaching the room.

“Oh Harry, hi!” Niall greets him with a huge smile. He’s dressed differently than the last time. It looks like those are his actual clothes and not the ratty and dirty clothes Harry saw him wearing the last time when he was working on the chimney. “It’s been a while. Couldn’t catch you here on Wednesday, where were you hiding?” he asks with a laugh. He’s glowing – Harry thinks – he’s wearing a blue plaid shirt with a loose white tshirt underneath, his jeans are tighter this time, but he’s still wearing those converse that look too big for him. He has the paperboy hat on, and he looks cute with those small strands of hair poking out of it. He looks bright and _hot_  and clean. Harry wants to bury his face in his neck.

“Yeah, class got a bit, uh, extended that day. Got home at like four and you were already gone.”

“That’s okay. I left at two, I guess it was? But that doesn’t matter, we’re here now.” he smiles softly at him, before his eyes open wide as if he just remembered something, “Oh, by the way, I’m so sorry for the lateness today, just. Got a family call, like a Skype call? And, well, I don’t see them often and we talked for a while, I hope it’s not a problem, maybe I should have called, but I-“

“Oh, Niall, please, of course it’s not a problem! Des didn’t give you a schedule for a reason. There’s no need to apologize, and no need to explain yourself further” she smiles at him, “now, there are some biscuits and cookies waiting for me in the oven so I’ll be in the kitchen. Make yourself at home, Niall.”

“Thank you Marta” Niall turns to look at her and then at Harry, “She’s the sweetest” he says, “I’ll be in the living room then. Don’t drown in all those books, Haz!” he shouts, and Harry wonders how can he make him laugh every damn time.

 

Past six, just when Niall climbs down the chimney to start packing up his stuff to leave, Marta announces the biscuits are ready and she also brings some tea. Niall looks a bit flustered when she asks him if he wants to join, Harry would say he looks just a bit shy, but the bright smile and the decided nod he sends her makes him forget about it.

Harry had chosen the seat of the table where he had the best view of the chimney (of Niall, to be more precise), but Niall crushed his plans when he decided to spend three out of four hours inside the chimney. When he’s finally out, Harry chokes on a bite of the cookie he had in his mouth.

Niall’s cheeks are rosy, with just a bit of grey and black from all the dust and grim that must be inside the chimney, Harry doesn’t even want to imagine. He’s wearing his loose smudged pants again with a ratty old shirt. But he still looks _so_  good. Hair sticking to his forehead and his bare arms looking a bit damp with sweat, he looks delectable, Harry wants to eat him alive.

He can’t help the staring. Can’t help licking his lips subconsciously when Niall removes his harness and bends down, with his bum towards Harry, to get a towel out of his backpack and wipes his face with it. It’s Marta who stops him. Stabbing her pointy elbow on his side and shooting a glare at him, “you’re being too obvious, love” she says, with a knowing smile on her face.

Niall joins them eventually. After changing back to his original clothes in the bathroom and leaving his backpack ready, he sits besides Harry and in front of Marta. Munching happily a piece of cake Marta put on his plate.

“God. This is so good, it’s delicious, Marta” he moans after finishing the cake, sipping his tea and grabbing a cookie, “these were baked by gods, I swear.”

“Thank you Niall! I always spoil Harry a bit when he has those projects that keep him awake all night.” And that. That brings Niall’s attention back to Harry, with a glint of curiosity shinning in his eyes.

“What’re ya working on?” he mumbles, biting another cookie. He looks adorable.

“It’s a shitty Spanish project. I have to write my autobiography and make an oral presentation about someone famous and important” Harry explains, looking hopelessly at Niall, “I suck at Spanish”

“Why? It’s not that hard!” Niall says, “c’mon, show me what you have, maybe I can help you out.”

They finish their tea and Niall puts more cookies in his plate, blowing a kiss to Marta before she goes back to the kitchen, leaving them alone.

Harry shows him the small paragraphs he has written and he feels a bit lighter when Niall points out the silliest mistakes and says almost all of it’s right.

“How did you even learn all of this? I can’t even get the basics after two years of Spanish classes.”

“Dunno really,“ he starts, “I just had some friends back home, who were like, exchange students, from Spain, and I picked it all up from them” he shrugs, as if that’s not fascinating at all.

Niall ends up staying another hour after that. He helps him out a lot; he helps a bit with grammar, though he’s certainly not an expert, he knows enough to leave Harry impressed. He recommends Obama for the oral presentation and he helps him with the pronunciation of certain things. Harry has the project ready before he expected it.

“See? I told you it wasn’t so hard” Niall says after Harry is done closing every book and putting them on a pile to carry up to his room. “And you have it in you! You just, gotta trust your own knowledge. You can only get better at it.”

 

Niall leaves with a kiss on Harry’s cheek and the promise of seeing Harry again next Monday.

 

\--

 

It’s a funny thing, how Niall meets Louis on Monday.

Liam had told Niall the previous day that he had to go to Harry’s house to work on a final project, so he had expected to find Liam already there. He just thought it would only be the three of them.

Niall’s opening the kitchen door after greeting Marta and tying up his shoes when he runs into something, or rather, someone. He looks up to find Liam, Harry and another guy he’s never seen but that is not much taller than him.

“Do we all know each other?” the boy asks, and Harry snorts next to him.

He introduces them to each other, though Louis interrupts him and says, “Yeah! You’re the cute lad that came instead of the chimney cleaner, I remember you.”

It takes Niall ten minutes to make Louis believe that he is actually the chimney cleaner. “I just thought it would be an old, smelly man with a terrible beard” he says, and Niall bursts into laughter.

They get on really well, Harry notices. Louis makes Niall laugh easily and Liam joins them with a quieter laugh but a crinkle in his eyes that they’re all fond of.

They fit, somehow. And Harry gets that feeling again, the same he felt when he was up in the balcony with Niall beside him, he feels that he’s right where he belongs, he feels at home. And that’s something no one but these three guys have made him feel.

The day feels like it passed in a blur. Niall and Liam leave together, of course, Harry sometimes forgets they live together. They both hug Louis before they leave and when they reach the front door, with Harry in tow, Niall turns back, smiles shyly at him, and hugs him too.

 

Louis and Marta spend the whole dinner teasing him about the blush always present in his cheeks when Niall is in the room.

 

\--

 

It’s on Wednesday when Harry realises that Niall will finish up his work soon and that they probably won’t see each other anymore. Or not as much as they do right now. It scares him in a really funny way. Like there’s a small voice in his head that is chanting “you got attached! You got attached! You don’t want to let him go!” and Harry is slowly accepting the fact that yeah, Niall might be taking a huge place in his heart. He feels it growing every time Niall laughs at his jokes, when he says his Spanish is improving, when they accidentally end up touching each other’s hands.

When he says goodbye after work and he has to lift his feet off the ground to give him a kiss in the cheek.

That’s the reason why he finds himself asking Niall to stay for a bit after work, to hang out for a while, like the friends they now are. He offers him a cup of tea and Marta’s homemade cookies, and Niall is beaming at him, saying “Yes, Harry. I’d love to.”

They go to Harry’s room after Niall claims that his stomach is full enough to continue with the day, he thanks Marta for the food and the tea and then says, “You said you wanted to hang out?” and Harry quickly nods, decides to risk it and grabs Niall by his hand, taking him upstairs and into his room.

They talk for a while, Niall starts the conversation about how the chimney is coming along well and that he’s sure it will be ready by Friday. Harry tries to smile as bright as Niall is smiling at him, but it’s hard with how his heart aches a bit by knowing Friday is his last day with Niall. But every thought that was running through Harry’s head comes to a halt when Niall asks with big and hopeful eyes if he can play the sad and abandoned guitar Harry’s had in the corner of his room for months.

“It’s beautiful, Harry.” He strokes the chords, running his fingers slowly and carefully through every string until is proper tuned again, “Why did you let her fill up with dust like this?” he asks, looking slightly offended.

“I just, got busy with uni and stuff. The last time I proper played was last Christmas.” he says.

“That was months ago, Harry, you’re so inconsiderate.” he says, setting it up in his lap and playing a soft and unfamiliar but pleasant tune, “This poor thing.”

Harry chuckles, trying to hide how amazed he is. He still doesn’t recognize the song Niall’s playing, but it makes him want to close his eyes, lie down and let Niall sing him to sleep. Niall pops his bubble when he asks, “I didn’t even know you played. Didn’t take you to be good with a guitar, you know? You have clumsy fingers.” he chuckles softly. He’s still looking down at the guitar, with a calm expression on his face.

Harry really wants to kiss him.

“Heeeey” Harry whines, “what do you mean clumsy fingers?”

Niall giggles before he replies, “I’ve seen you dropping more things than I could count with my two hands, Haz.”

Harry goes to complain again. Because he does _not_ have clumsy fingers. Maybe a dodgy coordination, yeah. He might have to accept it.

“Well, I didn’t know _you_  play, neither.” Harry says, “But I can see you’re really good at It.” he smiles when Niall looks up, a crooked smile on his lips.

“Yeah? You think? I haven’t played in a while actually. I left my guitar at home.” he says, and the smiles disappears from his face, fast, it makes Harry shiver.

“You mean-?”

“At home, yeah. Ireland” he smiles again, but it looks sad, Harry regrets ever asking. “Couldn’t bring it over here, I barely even packed a bag when I left.”

“Is it stepping over a line if I ask why did you left?” Harry asks, because he’s curious, and as Niall said, inconsiderate. But he already started asking, he might as well get the full story out of it.

“No, no it’s not.” Niall smiles at him, “You were bound to ask, it’s just, a long story.” he chuckles dryly.

“Well, I’m free all evening. You can stay for a sleepover if it is really long, I don’t mind.” and that helps get the air a little less tense, Niall laughs and mumbles, “a sleepover? Really?,” but ends up breathing out an “okay” when they both are done laughing.

Harry waits until Niall regains his breath, they are sitting closer now. Their backs against the headboard and their shoulders touching, and then Niall starts, he’s looking at his lap, fiddling with a loose thread of Harry’s blanket.

“I’ve cleaned chimneys with me dad since I was like fifteen or summat,” he says, looking at something far away, out of the huge window – Harry thinks - he looks distant, it makes Harry’s hands clammy and uncomfortable, “he fell one time, hurt his back, total smashed.” He explains, shaking his head, “He couldn’t do anything for a good four months, and mum wouldn’t let me go alone to work myself, said it was too dangerous and that I was too small for that.” he smiles sadly, “I wanted to do something, you know? He was in pain, and frustrated, because he was our only income of money. And without that, well, there was food in the fridge, because Greg, my brother, worked at Tesco, and it helped, but still, none of them where taking their meds.” He says, taking a deep breath. “My mum has diabetes, like a bad case of it, and we’ve always struggled a bit with her meds, and with my dad bed ridden, it was so-“ he shakes his head again, like he’s trying to brush away all the memories, “I escaped one night, with Zayn, my best friend from home, and we went to a small town like, two hours away from Mullingar, and at five the next morning we started asking people if their chimneys needed a good clean,” he chuckles a bit, but it sounds forced and raw, “it was crazy, we were quite a sight.

“One man told us to clean his chimney, that he needed it clean and ready that same day, and that’s a lot of work, you know, but we did it because the payment was worth it and neither of us wanted to go home empty handed.” Niall stops, gulps and looks at Harry, as if he’s checking if Harry’s paying attention, if he hasn’t fallen asleep.

Harry would never.

“We came back home a total mess at midnight, my mum was worried sick, my brother and dad too, I thought that when I showed them the money they would focus on that, you know? Like. But they just cried, Harry, can you believe that? They cried. _I_ made them _cry_.” Harry doesn’t really know what to say, Niall’s voice is laced with emotions that he let out unchecked, making what seems to be a simple story, meaningful, important, and Harry does, he believes him, feels as overwhelmed as Niall looks, and he reaches out and squeezes Niall’s trembling hand.

“They told me I was more important than any medication and any money and any rent we had to pay. But I wouldn’t let them lose themselves for me, a silly 15 year old boy that spent half his money in hair dye. I felt stupid. So I insisted and insisted, until they agreed to let me work. They trusted Zayn enough to let me go with him and Yaser, his dad, and that’s how we started. Going around Mullingar, and then Cork and Belfast and Dublin, cleaning chimney after chimney, saving a bit for train tickets and me mum’s medication. That’s been my life since then.”

Harry takes a moment to let Niall breathe, before the curiosity gets the best out of him, and he asks, “How did you ended up here, then? Scary and big London after being in Ireland your whole life?”

Niall laughs softly at that before he sighs, letting his head fall backwards and it thuds softly when it hits against the headboard, “there was a point where Zayn felt like he was going nowhere, like he needed to put his hands on another project, do something else. He slowly saved enough money to start uni, see how it went, and he loved it. We all could see that, he started as an English lit major, but he changed it to art a few months later, it was cheaper and he was happier. Yaser could see that that’s what Zayn should be doing, so he worked harder, travelled twice as much as before to help Zayn pay every semester, and I felt like a burden after that, a nuisance, I felt like I was just stopping Yaser from doing more. It was for Zayn, and Zayn deserves every good thing, so I left.” Niall says, Harry doesn’t tear his eyes away from him for one second, because the passion that tilts Niall’s every word it’s captivating, Harry just can’t look away, “I talked to Yaser about it, and he gave me a bit of the money we’ve made, because after all, well, I deserved it, and I got enough for a plane ticket, and for some reason, my first option was London.” he smiles a bit, looking back down at the hand that Harry has in his grasp. He smiles.

“I stayed at the airport for two nights until I decided to call home and let them know where I was. My mum proper freaked out, of course, but I told her I was staying at a friend’s, which was a terrible lie, but she was calmer at the prospect of me calling home every chance I had” he shrugs a bit, his right shoulder bumping with Harry’s before he continues.  

“I just started the same as I started in Ireland, asking random people in the streets, knocking on doors eventually. I was homeless, you could say, for about 3 weeks, just, spending the least amount of money I could, showering in people’s houses with the excuse of a sweaty and long day of hard work. Mostly, they were all nice.  I only ran into 3 or 4 dickheads who didn’t pay me enough, but other than that, people sometimes offered me food and all. It was Liam’s mum who offered me a place to stay, because, as you probably know, their chimney is also huge and she said it was easier if I stayed there for a while. And I met Liam, we hit off as friends immediately. And I don’t know how a week of using the guests’ room because of work turned into weeks and then months, and then calling it my room.

“I still can’t call it home, it feels weird, as if I’m invading something, even though they’ve made me feel at home at the worst moments. Here I am.” Niall finishes with a smile. Harry’s words are all stuck in his throat. He doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know what Niall wants to hear or if he wants to hear something at all.

They sky is cloudless out of the window and the whole aura in the room is peaceful, it feels intimate, that they’ve only known each other for a bit more than week and he already knows Niall’s whole life story.

“I- I’m glad you chose London. Even if things were rough at first, I’m glad you stayed and now you’re here, I’m glad Liam took you in” Harry says, eyes shining with pure sincerity because that’s exactly what he feels. A huge gratefulness towards all the angels above who protected Niall when he was young and lonely in a huge unknown city, “I’m glad you chose me.”

“Don’t be so full of yourself, I only chose your chimney.” Niall says, with a teasing glint in his eyes. But his smile is reserved, small but happy. Harry feels something tug at his heart when he knows he put it there.

Harry turns to look out of the window now, just as Niall was when he started speaking, stretching a little and scooting a bit closer to Niall, not even trying to  hide how much he wants to be as close as he can. “My life’s pretty boring, you know, you’re gonna fall asleep.”

“No, c’mon. Don’t be like that, I’d never fall asleep on you” he smiles at Harry, and somehow, that’s all Harry needs to find the courage to open his mouth.

“Well, as you’ve noticed, I only live with my dad. Because, well because he and my mum didn’t have the best relationship, I was really small when the divorce was signed legally, but I remember my mom and how happy we were all with her and my sister here.”

“You have a sister?” Niall interrupts softly.

“Yeah, she’s older than me, but she went to live with mom and she’s graduating college soon, we see each other for Christmas and her birthday. I still don’t understand why I ended up living with my dad. It’s like, I don’t believe it when my sister says I chose him. It seems crazy now, that it was him over my mom when I was a kid, it’s ridiculous.” he shakes his head, trying to keep his anger at bay.

“You hate your dad, Haz?” Niall whispers, rolling on his side and looking at Harry with something in his eyes that Harry can’t describe.

“No” Harry breathes out, “No, I don’t. He’s a good person, maybe not the best dad, but I did adore him when I was younger, when he put more effort on being a dad than on being the CEO of a company” he sighs out, rubbing his eyes, “that’s it really. He’s making me chose economics and international relations as my major, and I, I just don’t want that. I’m not happy with that, but every time I tried to tell him that wasn’t my thing he just, he started with the same thing he still says, that I have to take over his company on the future, that I have to be ready and I have to be the best, get a woman, get married have kids, and get them ready to continue with the family’s emporium and I just don’t want that.”

Harry finally opens his eyes, to find Niall looking intently at him and squeezing his fingers. He hadn’t even noticed they were still holding hands.

“I’m not even- I’m not even straight, but he never listens, he says that’s ridiculous, that it will go away with time, and it’s so frustrating, it’s like he doesn’t know me at all, like I sit in front of a stranger at dinner. I feel like one of his employees, not like his son.”

“Why don’t you take him on a vacation?” Niall asks suddenly.

“What?”

“Yeah, like, if he’s always busy here then, take him away from here, somewhere where he’s not thinking about business, somewhere where he hears you out. You’re a great person, Harry, full of potential and all, you’re really smart, don’t let your dad put a shade on your dreams” Niall says softly, giving another gentle squeeze to his fingers.

“Have you always wanted to be a chimney cleaner? Because as passionate as you seem about it, I doubt that’s the only dream you’ve ever had.” Harry asks, trying to change a bit the conversation.

“Yeah, you’re right” Niall nods, “I’ve always wanted to be a singer” he smiles bashfully. Harry tries not to coo. “I play the guitar, as you now know, and I used to keep the neighbours awake sometimes, but I feel like, so alive when I just, do it, when it’s just me and a guitar, that’s my place.”

Harry smiles at him, letting his eyes fall closed, “I have to see you perform one day.” he says and he can feel Niall nodding, his hair tickling Harry’s jaw. He had forgotten how close they actually are. He doesn’t remember when Niall leaned up and rested his head on his shoulder, but he’s so glad it happened.

Niall chooses that moment to look up at him, lifting up his head and brushing his nose against Harry’s in the way. They are so close. So close that Harry could just move a centimetre and he would find Niall’s lips right against his own.

“Harry-“

He goes for it. Doesn’t give himself the time to think it twice. He catches Niall’s eyes widening before he closes his, leaning in until he can press his lips on Niall’s. The kiss is soft and slow, and Harry can feel Niall getting into it after five seconds of Harry kissing on his own. Both of their lips are a bit chapped, and it’s a relief when Niall opens his mouth just a bit, letting Harry into his mouth. It feels easy and right, how Harry’s hand finds its way to Niall’s neck and Niall is clutching Harry’s shirt while they’re still holding hands. It turns into a full snog before they both notice. When they break apart, they’re breathless, panting quietly in each other’s space, both of their lips red and shiny, tugging upwards into a timid but content smile.

“I really wanted to do that” Harry whispers hoarsely, “since like, the first day I saw you.”

“Good to know we were on the same page,” Niall says softly, “mind if we do it again?”

 

The rest of the evening passes in a haze. And if Marta comes into the room a few hours later to find them asleep, in the most adorable cuddle, well, she softly covers them with a blanket and closes the door quietly behind her, with a proud smile on her face.

 

\--

 

Niall wakes up the next morning to find himself nestled in Harry’s chest. Uncomfortably warm in a fuzzy blanket and the same clothes he had yesterday. He tries to stretch a bit without jostling Harry too much, and when his muscles are not as numb, he settles down on Harry’s chest again. His head resting right where he can feel Harry’s heartbeat as he laces their hands together.

There’s a buzz coming from his leg. Probably his phone. But he ignores it for the sake of watching Harry opening his eyes slowly. The younger boy lets out a groan and he rolls closer into Niall’s embrace.

“Don’t wanna get’p” he mumbles into Niall’s hair, blowing small puffs of air into his scalp and making Niall giggle.

“You kind of have to, Haz” he whispers, “I’m pretty sure you’re not late, but you have class.”

“Shh, don’t.” he grumbles and Niall starts tickling his sides. “Niall, noooo” he whines.

“You’ll be late, Harry, don’t make me throw you out of the bed.”

“It’s my bed!” and that’s when Harry feels awake. Niall’s hands are drawing small patterns on his arms and back. Niall’s hands. _Niall_. In _his bed_. He didn’t go home last night. Hell, none of them didn’t even take off their clothes to put on some pyjamas. They just fell asleep after snogging for what felt like hours. The most amazing hours of Harry’s life so far.

“Harry, I think I can hear you thinking.” Niall mumbles, before he pushes himself up to his elbows, “if you regret what happened last night just-“

“No” Harry is quick to say, “No, no, never. Don’t say that. It just, shocked me, I mean, we just kissed last night and we’re already sharing a bed and, I don’t know.”

“Too fast?” Niall asks with a (cute) wince.

“I want to take you on a date. I want us to have dinner at a fancy place and I want to do something cheesy,” Harry word-vomits, “I really like you, Ni. And I want us to, you know, work this out? If you want, of course, because if you don’t-“

“Yes”

“What?”

“Yes, Harry. I like you too, quite a lot actually. And I want to spend more time with you, before we start as something more. I want to try this out too.” he smiles reassuringly. Harry feels like he can breathe again.

“I just, don’t want to rush this into something that might not be, you know? It feels so right, to be with you, and I just.”

“You don’t have to say more, okay?” Niall says, pressing a soft and quick kiss to Harry’s mouth.

“Okay. Yeah, okay. Now, should we maybe get up?”

“Nope.” Niall smiles at him.

“Oh, and why is that?” Harry smiles too, knowing where Niall is going with this.

“Not until you proper kiss me.”

Harry ends up getting a good teasing from Marta and arriving twenty minutes late to his first class. But after the cuddling and the breakfast and some more of snogging, he thinks it was worth it.

 

\--

 

By Friday, the chimney is ready. Harry gets home for lunch to find Niall sweeping the living room, wearing dirty overalls with his messy hair and humming a song under his breath.

He looks distracted, absolutely immersed in his own little world, and Harry takes advantage of Niall having his back turned towards him to sneak out quietly behind him and put his hands in Niall’s tiny waist. He jumps a bit under his grasp, turning to look at him with his wide blue eyes and rosy cheeks.

“For fuck’s sake, you gave me a scare.” Niall mutters, smiling eagerly at him, before rolling in Harry’s arms and getting their chests flush together. It’s been happening more often, this kissing thing. They find themselves giving each other small pecks on their noses and cheeks, sometimes managing to get a full, proper snog, without being caught. Niall knows Harry is not quite ready to let his father know about this- thing. So he doesn’t push. Doesn’t ask him even though he’s dying to get his affection out in the open.

 

That same day, Louis invites them out for a karaoke night at his house, he says is for celebrating that Niall did such an amazing job, but Harry has the feeling he did it because of him, because he’s not ready to let Niall go so fast.

Niall voices he’s a bit tired, but Harry convinces him to go. The excuse of free pints, a good time with nice music and taking him home afterwards does the trick.

Liam is there too, and they spend the whole evening together. They have a few pints, not enough to get them even tipsy, but just for the sake of it. Louis shares embarrassing stories from when they were younger, “you should have seen him when he wore the loosest pants, Nialler, really, they were like halfway down his bum, as if he had something to show down there!” and it makes Niall laugh, loud and unabashedly, leaning on Harry’s body when the laughter is too much and he can’t seem to catch his breath. He squeezes Harry’s knee when they are a bit quieter, looking at him with sleepy but bright blue eyes, kisses him soft and long when Louis goes to check no one has broken a vase or is using his room to have sex upstairs. Niall hides a yawn in Harry’s hoodie and keeps his forehead pressed against his collarbone, Harry can feel him leaving small, lazy kisses over the exposed skin.

Liam is looking a bit out of place.

“Do you want to go home?” Harry mumbles in Niall’s hair, stroking Niall’s back with the heel of his hand, making Niall hum appreciatively.

“Yeah, please. If you want to?” Niall mutters back.

“Of course. Come on, up we go. You’re falling asleep.” he smiles when Niall lifts his head. He has a side of his face red and wrinkly from having Harry’s shirt pressed against his cheek. He stifles another yawn. Pressing the heel of his hands against his eyes and shaking his head, messing with his hair and stretching his legs under the table. He looks absolutely adorable.

“I guess I was more tired than I thought, I’m sorry if you wanted a late night.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I just, wanted to spend some time with you and the lads, it was good. You enjoyed it, yeah?” Harry asks.

“Yeah” the blonde smiles at him, “Yeah I did, thank you for bringing me.”

“Lou’s gonna be devastated when he knows you fell asleep at his party” Harry jokes, reaching out and wiping away the dampness under Niall’s eyes after another yawn.

Niall laughs hoarsely at that, “Speaking of Tommo, I’m gonna say goodbye, head to the toilet quick and then we can leave, yeah?”

Harry nods, holding Niall’s hand until he’s balanced enough to stay steady on his feet. Niall turns to walk away but turns back to Harry with a laugh when Harry doesn’t let go of his fingers. He leaves a sloppy kiss down on Harry’s nose and says, “I’ll be right back.”

Harry smiles and follows Niall with his eyes until he disappears in the crowd.

 

\--

 

Harry has lost count of the amount of times they have fallen asleep cuddling after a movie. The amount of times Niall has invited himself over for lunch. The amount of times they have kissed while Liam and Louis were waiting for them in the other room. It’s easy, to fall into this thing they have. It makes Harry feel alive, feel like he has a purpose in this world; to make Niall happy, at all times, forever.

They go on a date way too many weeks after Harry had wanted them to. It proves a bit hard for Harry to find time when finals are coming, and Niall has also started working on another chimneys. Their schedules clashing one too many times.

“Are you sure you want hot dogs for lunch?” Harry asks, because out of all the places he imagined taking Niall for their first date, it never crossed his mind Niall would choose hot dogs. He feels like he should have at least considered it.

“Yeah, I’ve been to this place since my first day in London. They make the best hot dogs ever, Harry, c’mon.” It’s because Niall insists that Harry agrees.

“Okay, okay. But next time, I’ll choose.” He prods.

But Niall is paying him no mind, taking him by his hand and opening the small restaurant’s door. Harry isn’t quite expecting all the people that greet Niall. At least five waiters raise their hands and shout out a “Niall! Ages without seeing you mate!” And Niall replies with a boisterous laugh and says, “Gotta come back more often, don’t I?” Squeezing Harry’s hand as if saying _see? We have to come back here next time_.

Harry finds it amazing that he remembers all of their names.

It’s ice cream after the hot dogs. Niall’s decision again. Harry takes him to a park that it’s a ten minutes walk from his house, and they sit at the bench that has the best sight of the park’s big lake. Harry has his arm around Niall’s shoulders, humming and moving his fingers to the rhyme of a tune Niall had been playing on his guitar a few days prior. It makes Niall’s heart skip a beat, makes him blush, he nuzzles his face in Harry’s neck.

“Ni” Harry says softly, “your ice cream is melting, babe.”

Niall snorts quietly before sitting up a bit straighter, not letting Harry’s arm fall off his back, and licks another stripe of his cone. “I was comfy there.” he says with a pout.

Harry turns to look at him then, catching the sight of Niall’s profile as he licks his cone again. He looks beautiful, with the last rays of the sun gradually diminishing but still softly falling on Niall, giving him some sort of glow, a yellowish halo around his frame that makes it seem like he's made of porcelain, maybe gold. He has a bit of ice cream smudged in the corner of his mouth, and Harry smiles. Reaches out slowly to wipe it away, but leaving his hand resting on Niall’s jaw. Beaming blue eyes turn to look at him, with curiosity and adoration shining through them. And it’s so wonderful. So beautifully Niall. Harry inches closer, with their noses touching and their lips brushing, Harry tells him just that. “You look beautiful, you know?”

Niall smiles against his mouth, trying to gaze down, but Harry’s hand is still on his face, leaving him immobile – not that he’s complaining. Harry loves to watch how Niall’s blush starts in his cheeks, right by his nose, and spreads delightfully down his neck. He chuckles lightly, breath hitting Harry’s mouth, and Harry shushes him down with a kiss. His cone is slowly melting down his hand, but right now, he doesn’t have a care in the world.

 

\--

 

They go to another of Louis’ karaoke parties two weeks after that day. This time Louis only invites Niall, walking away with an obscene wink and shouting,  “Harry can totally be your plus one, I haven’t invited him yet, mate, go for it!” and he leaves a flustered and smiley Niall in the front door at Liam’s house.

Harry says yes, of course. And they go, arriving hand by hand and waving hello to the people they remember from the last time. Louis always invites a lot of people, and always saves them the same spot in the most comfortable sofa of his living room. This time there’s more alcohol, and seeing as Harry is done with finals and Niall is done with work, they go a bit wild with their pints.

At some point, Liam dares them to sing a duet in the small stage Louis sets beside his huge T.V, and they end up singing "My Heart Will Go On" with their arms around each other and a very dramatic and messy enact of the movie. Louis laughs it off, but pushes them gently off the stage when they start a full snog in front of everyone, earning coos and whistles from the small public they managed to gather. Liam is laughing his balls off in his seat.

It’s a bit after midnight when everyone is more interested in the alcohol and the dancing than the karaoke, and Louis removes the small platform from the living room to give them more space to dance.

They are all a bit tipsy, and Harry isn’t expecting it when Niall suddenly slips from his grasp and stands up, taking Harry’s hand and saying, “Give me the honour to dance this song with you.” with a cheeky smile on his face, slowly swaying to the music.

Harry stands up, because maybe he’s a bit drunker than he thought, but mostly because he can’t say no to Niall.

Niall wraps his arms around Harry’s shoulders, warm hands playing with his hair and stroking his scalp, Harry nuzzles his face in Niall’s hair, setting his hands in Niall’s waist. They’re not moving, just swaying lazily in the same spot, with Niall muttering softly the lyrics in the nape of Harry’s neck. “Your body is a wonderland.” he sings in a raspy and slurry whisper that makes Harry tighten his hold, dropping his hands to Niall’s hips and squeezing.

The song ends too fast for Harry’s liking, but Niall is not letting him go. Even if the next song is way too upbeat for their lazy movements, he doesn’t complain. Instead, he finds himself with his mouth pressed to Niall’s earlobe and asking, “what do you say about going upstairs?”

Niall lifts up his gaze. He’s smirking up at him, before he nods, kissing Harry soft and quick, he says, “Lead the way, Haz”

Harry doesn’t take them to Louis room. First, because he doesn’t know where this is going, and second, because if this is going to end up how Harry hopes is going to, well, he doesn’t want to traumatize Louis for life.

They end up in the guest room, with a soft glow coming from a small lamp on the bedside table. Harry is kissing Niall, rough and heavy as he rests his elbows on the bed, Niall letting out small content noises underneath him. Nothing changes for a good minutes, Harry is slowly letting more of his weight fall on top of Niall, enjoying the slow movement of Niall’s fingers through his hair, sometimes pulling away, letting his teeth graze over Harry’s bottom lip as he takes a deep breath, sometimes pushing him further into the kiss.

Harry lets it all happen, he lets Niall set the pace, waits for Niall’s hands to start pulling up his shirt to know when he wants him to take it off. He’s pleased with wherever this goes.

Niall’s lips leave his mouth after a while, they start a path down Harry’s jaw and neck, teeth scrapping against his skin and fingers caressing his back. Both are already covered by a thin layer of sweat, and Harry wants to taste it all. He lifts himself off Niall, chuckling at the whine that comes from Niall when they are too far away for his liking.

Long fingers grasp Niall’s shirt, slowly taking it off and throwing it off the bed. Harry’s lips start in Niall’s mouth again, trailing slowly down his body, Niall’s hands gripping tighter Harry’s hair, “Fuck, Harry, please” he grunts, “just, fucking, do something.” Niall slurs breathlessly.

He wastes no time in unbuttoning Niall’s pants, fumbling drunkenly to take them off and finally dropping them to the ground. He gropes Niall through his thin underwear, loving the way Niall arches up into him. Cheeks growing redder, his chest looking sweaty, rosy, so damn beautiful.

“Harry” Niall heaves, pulling Harry up to his face and kissing messily. Lips smashed against each other as Niall’s fingers reach Harry’s pants. Harry muffles a moan into the kiss, “Take it off,” Niall growls desperately, “too tight Haz, your pants are too tight.” he whines, letting his hands fall defeated to the mattress. Harry laughs softly, lips lingering on Niall’s before he sits to take off his pants and boxers at the same time. Eagerly getting back on top of Niall and grunting as his dick brushes against Niall’s belly, spreading pre come over the pale skin.

“Not fair” he shakes his head, “take yours off too” and Niall does, clumsily getting rid of his boxers, kicking his legs out to let them fall off the bed with the rest of their clothes.

Harry hisses in surprise when Niall wraps a hand around his cock, chokes out a moan and buckles into Niall’s fist. He’s not gonna last. Tipsy, sluggish and so fucking turned on, he squeezes Niall’s length too, feeling his dick twitch in Niall’s grasp at the broken and needy moan Niall leaves right in his ear.

It gets messy after that. Desperate kisses and harsh bites in each other’s exposed skin. Harry’s chest heaves when Niall speeds up his hand, fingertips reaching his slit and spreading more pre come down his length. Niall is so good, too good around him. Rubbing him just in the right way to have Harry writhing out as he clenches his teeth, hips thrusting and buckling franticly. The room blurs from a good blissful seconds as he spills into Niall’s hand, his come landing hard on Niall’s stomach and ribs, shaky gasps and moans muffled into Niall’s neck and collarbones as he rides it out, dick twitching one last time before Niall removes his hand, wrapping it around the hand Harry has around his dick and he keens, mouth opening sinfully in a loud moan as he moves their interlocked hands faster, chasing his release, is the hottest thing Harry has ever seen.

Harry kisses down Niall chest until he reaches his left nipple, teeth nibbling softly into the sensitive and swollen skin, and Niall comes like that. His unoccupied hand latched onto Harry’s arm as he jolts and throbs under Harry, coating their stomachs in white. He lets his hand fall on top of his belly, thighs still trembling around Harry’s waist. Harry kisses him one last time before pulling his hand away too. He lies beside Niall on the bed, grasping their hands together.

Niall has a sated smile on his face when he turns to look at him, eyes small and sleepy. Harry stands from the bed, kissing Niall’s knuckles before going to the small bathroom and getting tissues to clean them up a bit.

After tossing them to the trash, he wraps them up in a bunch of blankets, cuddling Niall close to his chest, and they fall asleep fast after that.

 

Harry is the first one to wake up this time. And it’s nice. Niall’s got his legs tangled with Harry’s, one arm stretched on the bed and the other wrapped around himself. He looks adorable, his hair is messy and his cheeks are rosy. He’s also beautifully naked. It’s all a reminder of what they did the night before.

The clock on the wall tells him is almost eleven in the morning, and the grumble of Niall’s stomach confirms it. As much as it pains him, they have to get up. He starts kissing Niall’s neck, taking advantage of the way he has his head thrown back, and sucks in little love bites that have Niall groaning right away.

“Harry, stop’t” he grumbles, raising his arm and aiming to get Harry off of him, but missing completely, letting his arm fall around Harry’s neck instead. “Too early”

 Harry chuckles and mutters against Niall’s ear, “It’s eleven, sleepy bunny.” he doesn’t stop the nibbling and sucking, though, keeps his face in Niall’s neck and collarbones until the blonde properly wakes up.

He opens his eyes right in the moment Harry lifts his head to look at him. His eyes looking bright blue, sleepy and bloodshot, and his face scrunches up in a yawn. “Hi” he smiles, stretching out his arms and legs and then cuddling into Harry once again. Harry kisses his forehead. “Last night was amazing” Niall says.

“It was, yeah” Harry grins, “Needs to happen more often”

That gets Niall’s attention, he lifts his face to gaze at Harry, eyes looking slightly glassy but more awake than before, “what am I to you, Harry? Really.”

“Mine” Harry whispers against his mouth, “You’re mine, I want you to be mine”

Niall smiles at him, eyes crinkling in the corners, “You’re mine. And I’m yours, all yours” he says before going for a kiss, quick and sloppy, not caring about morning breath. “So we’re doing this, then? A proper couple?” he asks. Harry loves the glint in his eyes and he nods, pressing another kiss to Niall’s lips.

“Yeah, yeah we are. You’re my boyfriend and I’m yours” Harry finds himself feeling the most relaxed he’s ever felt, kissing Niall faster, tongue playing with Niall’s and sighing happily when they break apart to breath.

“I’ve wanted to hear that for a while now, Niall” sighs out, smiling dopily at him, “want to join me in the shower?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows and earning a blush and a giggle out of Harry.

 

A fantastic blowjob and a few kisses after, they go for breakfast, finding Liam and Louis in the kitchen, both looking at them with knowing smiles in their faces.

Louis grabs a towel from the counter and throws it at Harry, “and it had to happen in my house!” he says, dramatically faking annoyance but smiling fondly at their entwined hands. Niall feels the happiest he’s ever been.

 

\--

 

It’s a few days after, when Harry invites Niall, Liam and Louis for a movie night. Niall offers to help Harry set everything up, choosing the movie, helping with the pop corn and the drinks, so he arrives a few hours before their friends are supposed to arrive, when they make sure they have everything they need for the night, Niall turns on the T.V, lying down on Harry’s sofa and finding a review of a football game he missed because of work.

Harry settles down beside him, putting Niall’s legs on his lap and playing with the rip on Niall’s jeans. He doesn’t understand a thing about what the commentators are saying, but he’s more than happy watching Niall so entranced and still.

There’s a knock in the door that scares them both. “Harry? Son are you in there I need to talk to you a bit.” Des says through the door. Harry is quick to get Niall’s legs off his lap – leaving a baffled and wide eyed Niall behind - and shouts “I’m coming!” as he stands up.

“Hey, I need to- Oh, I didn’t know you had company” he raises his eyebrows, nodding at Niall in acknowledge, stepping inside the room, Niall waves back weakly, “what are you boys doing?”

“Uh, I just, I invited Niall and the lads for a movie, you know Lou and Liam, and Niall arrived a bit early” Harry laughs shakily. He doesn’t miss the odd look Niall sends his way.

“That’s nice. I didn’t know you were friends now” his dad says, patting Harry’s back a bit too hard and sending Niall a tight smile that the blonde tries to send back, “that’s good though, right? Always good to have friends outside the university environment, Harry” Harry nods curtly and him, hoping that he could just leave already, “well, I just came to tell you I’ll be going on a small work trip over the weekend, coming back on Monday night, I’d say. Be good.”

“Sure dad, you can always count on that” he nods again.

“Well then, I’m leaving. Goodbye you two, see you in a few days son. Bye Niall. Say hi to the lads for me.”

“Yeah, see you later Mr Styles.”

Des chuckles a bit at that, it sounds harsh in Harry’s hears, it makes him cringe, “yeah, I guess, see you later, Niall.”

The silence that takes over the room is suffocating. The football game becoming a distant background noise, until Niall decides to finally speak.

“So, we’re finally friends?” he asks harshly.

“Niall-“

“You didn’t even tell your dad, Harry, did you?” Niall hisses, turning his body to look properly at Harry, frowning deeply at him and crossing his arms defensively. “I’d understand if you hadn’t told him we’re in a relationship, but the man didn’t have a clue we're _friends_.” Niall is fuming. Harry understands.

“I- I haven’t had the chance, really, uh, I just”

“Harry, what the hell?” he’s standing now, cheeks red and hands curled up in a fist. “It’s been two months since we started this. Two bloody months. How come you haven’t had a chance?” That’s when it hits Harry how long has it actually been since that first time they kissed, even though they’ve officially together for less than a week, Harry knows they’ve been a thing since that Wednesday when they kissed and cuddled for hours in Harry’s bed. He also knows Niall has talked to his family about them. Because Niall has randomly blurted out how his dad really wants to meet him and how happy his mum is for him, for _them_ , even if they don’t know Harry, they trust him with their youngest son, although they don’t talk too often, maybe once every two weeks, Niall always shares how happy Harry makes him, how at home he feels when they are together. Harry feels like a total arsehole. And Niall is still looking at him, brow furrowed and hands clenched tight, he’s demanding an answer.

Harry sighs and looks down, messing with his hair and rubbing his palms against his thighs. He takes a few steps closer to Niall, taking hold of his hand. It’s limp in Harry’s grasp, but he feels a bit saner feeling the warm there. “It’s not as easy as you make it seem Ni, please understand-”

“But what is there to understand?! Why is it so hard? You talk to your dad, you put all your cards on the table and you let him know all your reasons, instead of bottling all of _this_  up inside and hiding it under the carpet as if it’s nothing!”

“No, don’t say that. You, you’ve become everything to me Niall, don’t even-”

“Then why don’t you take that last step?” he begs, sounding desperate and frustrated, Harry doesn’t blame him.

“I don’t know” Harry sighs.

“If this never meant something to you then just tell me” he says quietly. “If I’m wasting your time just tell me to fuck off and I’ll leave you alone, Harry.” He swallows and takes a deep breath, “But I- tell me if I’m wrong Haz, but what I’ve felt when I’m with you it’s, it’s real. And it’s not one-sided, I know it’s not. But you keep holding yourself back” he rasps out, squeezing Harry’s hand too tight, “this is your life. You can’t be scared of your dad’s opinion forever, Harry-“

“I can’t just do that, Niall!” he snaps, not being able to keep his mouth shut even if he doesn’t know what he’s saying, “I can’t risk so much just for-“ he stops himself in a halt, feeling as if there’s no more oxygen in his lungs.

“For what, Harry?” Niall asks, and the frustrated and angry tone that laced his voice five seconds ago has turned into sadness, and disappointment. Harry screwed it up.

“No, no, I wasn’t gonna say that, Ni” he insists.

“Shut up, you were! How dare you deny it!” Harry looks down, can’t see Niall’s eyes filling to the brim with tears, “what were you gonna say then, Harry? If it wasn’t that you would never risk it _just_  for us?”

Harry stays silent, keeps his eyes on his shoes, ignoring the tremble of Niall’s voice.

“Fucking talk to me, say something!” Niall shouts. Trying to stop his lip from quivering. He feels an unpleasant ache in his chest, a lump in his throat that grows with every second of Harry’s silence. It’s a dreading feeling in his belly, like when you’re swimming and you try to find something solid to put your feet on but there’s nothing. Just a void that grows and makes him hurt.

“I’m sorry” Harry breathes out.

Niall snorts, snatches his hand hard away from Harry’s grasp and takes a step back, Harry feels it like a kick in the gut. He can see him from the corner of his eye, wiping his tears and shaking his head, then crossing his arms, like a protective barrier. Harry wants to take his words back. Choke on them. Swallow them hard and painful for making Niall look so lost and miserable.

“This is it then?” Niall mutters, “It’s not worth it? That’s what it’s always been for you?”

“Niall. C’mon, no. I didn’t- I want you, I want us to work out, please, listen to me” Harry begs, reaching out for Niall’s hand.

“I’m listening Harry, I listened” Niall sighs out, sounding defeated, “I’m leaving now.”

“Niall! For fucks sake, please, just.”

“Let me go, Haz” Niall whispers, and Harry does, he lets Niall pry his hand out of his. He stares at Niall’s small form, curled into himself in his oversized sweater as he walks away.

 

\--

 

Harry hasn’t done much since Niall left.

He called Louis, to let him know the movie night was cancelled, and asked him to tell Liam, though he supposed Niall was at Liam’s. And he probably already told him everything. Liam is most likely to hate him now. But whatever.

Louis though, had suspected something was wrong as soon as he answered the phone. If the fast pace and the shaking of Harry’s voice through the phone said something. So he went to Harry’s house in a heartbeat. Ignored Marta’s warnings of _he said he wanted to be alone, Lou, if you go in there he might cut your head off_  but at the end, she had gave him the key to Harry’s room, mumbling to herself that maybe it was a friend what Harry needed the most right now.

So that’s where Louis is now. Sprawled out on the edge of Harry’s bed, with his back in the mattress and his head lolling side to side in the edge, looking at Harry who was pacing back and forth in front of him,  muttering a mantra of _I fucked up, I fucked up, I'm so stupid, how did I let this all happen. I messed it all up._

After about six minutes, he’s sure both of them are going mad.

“Har,” he starts, “you’re really starting to make me dizzy.”

Harry turns to glare at him, “yeah, well, all your blood must be on your brain at this point.”

“Shut up and stay still, god damn it” he stands up, placing both of his hands on Harry’s shoulders. “Listen, I don’t know what happened but whatever you did is bothering you and if I caught correctly what you were saying to yourself, it has to do with Niall” he sighs, lifting Harry’s chin when he breaks eyes contact, “but doing what you’re doing right now won’t help things. You probably don’t even know what’s going on in that head of yours, am I right?” Harry nods, sighing sadly, “Okay then, why don’t you sit down, talk, breathe, cry, take a shower, have a wank. Whatever helps you calm down, yeah? We’ll eat something, because Marta has dinner ready and she’s also very worried about you. Then we can watch a movie or you can go to sleep. When you wake up things won’t seem as bad as they do right now.”

“Lou-“

“Don’t disagree” he says, pointing out a finger at Harry, “I’m gonna bring some tea, you fancy?”

“Yeah, please” Harry says, flopping down on his bed and closing his eyes.

“I’ll be right back. Go to the bathroom if you decide for a wank because I really don’t want to walk in on you and drop it all on the floor.”

That makes Harry laugh, and Louis smiles at the sound. Closing the door behind him quietly and giving Harry a bit of space.

 

\--

 

Niall storms through the door as soon as he gets to Liam’s. He doesn’t even bother to take off his shoes, nor greets Liam, who seems to be on the phone, he just hurries up the stairs to his room, taking his (he actually thinks is Harry’s) sweater off of him and throwing it to the corner of the room. It makes him cringe, because he left his clothes there last night after getting home tired from dinner with Harry. He hates to be messy, hates it even more because it’s not his house. He stands there for a while, looking at his clothes cluttered on the floor and feels how his eyes fill to the brim with tears.

With a sniffle, he takes off his shoes – more gently this time – takes off his jeans to put on sweatpants and his old, oversized and familiar derby jersey. He lies on his bed and quite miserably puts his hands on his face, fingers massaging his temples as if that could prevent the headache he’s going to get from crying all the way home.

Liam finds him like that a few minutes after, he knocks softly and pokes his head through the door. “Hey.” He says, heart aching at the sight. He’s known Niall long enough to know that when he wears that old jersey he’s cold, homesick or sick.  And now that he’s removed the hands from his face and is staring at Liam with a feeble smile; he looks more upset than anything.

“Hi,” he says quietly, “sorry I didn’t say hello, you were on the phone.”

“Yeah, it’s okay, it was Lou. He told me the movie night had been cancelled.” He sits down close to Niall, places a hand on his knee, “what happened?”

“I’m tired” he mumbles, and as if to make it clearer, he forces out a yawn. “Gonna take a shower and go to sleep.”

“It’s just 6pm, Nialler” Liam says. Niall sighs. “What’s wrong?”

“We fought” Niall answers, looking down at his hands, “we fought or- or we broke up, I don’t know”

“He broke up with you?” Liam pries a little bit. Trying to get something out of Niall.

“No, or yeah, maybe, kind of but- I don’t know.”

“Niall” he tries again, “Ni, you’re not making any sense.”

“He hasn’t told his dad about us.” He flatly says, “said it’s not worth it,” saying it out loud stings, but he forces himself to continue. “Well, he didn’t exactly say it, but he was going to, like, the way he said it like- like he really doesn’t see a reason to risk it. He made me feel like I don’t matter, like all the things we’ve done together are not important.” He takes a deep breath, trying to swallow down a sob, “I can’t make him try harder, you know? I get he’s scared to come out to his dad and all, but, am I not worth it?” he says with a tremble in his voice. “God, I’m so stupid” he mumbles, letting his hands fall over his face again.

“No, no, none of that. You’re not stupid, Niall. Listen to me” He gets Niall’s hands off his face and squeezes them gently, noticing how cold they are to the touch. “Ni, you’re amazing. You’re a wonderful person and a blessing to have as a friend. You’re incredibly talented and smart and you’re also really damn handsome, you hear me?” Niall nods, his cheeks looking a bit rosier, a small and shy smile tugging the corner of his mouth slightly upwards, making Liam feel like he accomplished something. Complimenting Niall is something he could do for hours, “Okay, now, I’m going to bring you a nice and warm cuppa and we’ll cuddle under some fluffy blankets, yeah? You’re freezing, Ni.” he says, a concerned frown taking over his face.

“I just, walked all the way home.” Niall mutters. Liam shakes his head in front of him, still really close to the blonde, it makes him feel a tad warmer already.

“God, Niall. You could get sick! Harry’s house is not around the corner, mate.” They both cringe at the mention of Harry. Niall turns to his side, nuzzling his face in his pillow and breathing shakily.

“Sorry. Do you want something to eat with your tea? My mom brought some cookies earlier today“

“I’m not hungry, Li, thank you” he says softly, stirring the sleeves of his jersey to hide his hands inside and curling up his knees up to his chest.  He looks tiny and sad; it makes Liam want to cry.

“Okay then, I’ll be right back”

 

When he gets upstairs again, Niall is still in the same position how Liam left him less than ten minutes ago. He has his eyes open, but they seem to be looking at nothing, glassy and lifeless looking at the wall in front of him.

Liam struggles a bit closing the door, careful to not drop the food and not startle Niall, but the blonde still notices, turns his head slowly, uninterestingly at Liam, and tries for a smile that turns more into a wince. “Hey,” the older says quietly, there seems to be this aura in the room, a stillness that seems haunting and unfamiliar, Liam doesn’t know what to do with himself, doesn’t know what to do with this closed off and _upset_  Niall, he feels out of place, useless and helpless, “I brought you a bit of soup, it’s your favourite recipe by my mum, it’s a bit hot so you have to be careful.“

“Li, thank you,” Niall whispers, voice sounding more raspy than before. Liam has a moment of panic where he wonders if Niall was crying while he was in the kitchen. He feels a bit sick. “But I told you I wasn’t hungry, really” he finishes, closing his eyes. Liam heart thuds painfully in his chest. “I’m not hungry” Niall repeats, but his voice breaks this time, it sounds wrecked and choked, as if he’s holding himself back from bursting into tears.

“Ni, it will make you feel better, yeah? Things look a bit brighter with a full stomach” Liam says, settling the tray on top of Niall’s beside table and taking a seat next to Niall’s legs, folding them on his lap and rubbing his ankles.

“I’m just not hungry, Liam” he sounds defeated, and he looks like he is. He presses the heel of his hands on his eyes, pressing a bit too hard, making Liam frown as Niall takes a deep breath and chokes on it. And just like that, suddenly, his face screws up and he’s sobbing, trying to muffle his whimpers with his left hand and brushing tears off with the other, as if he could hide this from Liam, as if it would hurt him a little bit less.

“No, Ni, come on, come here” he shushes him, bringing him up like he weighs nothing and holds him tightly as he breaks down on his lap, he strokes his back, his hair, holds his hands and kisses his forehead, but Niall just cries, damps Liam’s tank top with his heartbreak and pain.

“I- I’m sorry, I just-“

“Shh, don’t apologize, yeah? Just, let it all out, do whatever that makes you feel better, because- because I don’t know what I’m doing Ni, I don’t know what to do to make you stop hurting” Liam says, feeling quite close to tears himself, desperate to erase the dullness of Niall’s eyes, the heaviness in his heart.

“I don’t know neither Liam, I don’t” and he cries some more, trying to dry his tears but Liam doesn’t let him. (Not that they stop falling anyway), he just grabs Niall’s hands and puts him down on the bed, on top of the blankets, with his jeans still on, and holds him close to his chest, murmuring sweet nothings in Niall’s ear until his sobs ease into sniffles, and then slowly but surely, into snores.

He stays still for a good 20 minutes, until he feels like it’s safe to move without waking Niall up and disturbing the sleep he so very needs. He goes to his room and strips his bed from all the blankets and brings them quietly to Niall’s room. He lies down again, giving Niall a bit more of space but still close enough to bring a bit of heat to Niall’s cold arms, they fall asleep like that. Liam doesn’t know what to expect in the morning, doesn’t know if Harry will be able to fix this before it’s too late, all he knows is that his place right now, it’s next to Niall, protecting him from anything that could ever hurt him, even if it’s Harry himself.

 

\--

 

It’s a Sunday. And Sundays in the Payne Household mean waking up late, cleaning and then watching movies together. But as much as Niall is trying to go back to sleep after being rudely awake at seven am by his phone buzzing beside him, he couldn’t. The screen bright and painful against his eyes tells him he has 17 unread texts and close to 40 missed calls. It wasn’t hard to know they were all from Harry, except for two.

He feels ten times more awake when he sees those last ones weren’t from Harry. But before he has time to question why his brother was calling him at this hour in the morning, his phone buzzes again.

“Hello?” There’s noise coming from the other side of the line, sounds of car horns and people talking way too fast for his still sleepy brain to catch up, but something feels odd about all of this, “Greg? Is this you? Are you drunk? I’m not up for this kind of shite.”

“Niall, no, don’t hang up. I’m not fucking drunk.”

“Where the hell are you?” Niall asks, a uneasy feeling spreading through his spine and making him shiver.

“On me way to t’hospital” Greg replies, and Niall feels his stomach twist painfully.

“What do you mean?” He doesn’t register when he stood up from the bed, but he’s putting on his shoes, throwing his sleeping shirt off and putting on a hoodie, “Greg, answer me. What’s wrong, what’s going on?”

Heavy breaths are all Niall can hear for a few seconds, until Greg’s wobbly voice answers, “Mum. It’s mum she’s- I don’t know, Niall. She’s not-“

Niall could definitely get sick right in this moment. Despite the fact that his stomach is pretty much empty, having not been hungry the night before and gone to sleep with just warm tea in his belly. He can feel his everything gnawing inside him, “Greg, please. Tell me what happened, where is she? Where’s da?”

“He went with her in the ambulance,” Niall pales slightly at the mention of an ambulance. Not being able to get rid of the mental imagine of his mum sick being rushed to hospital with a worried Bobby by her side. And he’s so far away from her, from _home_. “I had to leave Theo with grandma because Denise is at work, I’m on my way to the hospital.” Greg says, breathing more evenly now, “Do you think you can come over? Are you working? We need you here Ni, she might- fuck, she might not make-”

“Shut up! No, no, no, fucking hell shut the fuck up” Niall stresses out. Sitting on the bed and putting his head between his knees.

“Niall, breathe in, breathe out, yeah? You’re okay...I’m sorry, I’m sure she’ll be just fine” Greg speaks softly. He’s never talked him out of a panic attack before. Not even that time when he lost Niall in the mall, but he’s doing enough to keep Niall focused on getting his breathing under control again, “you know how strong she is.”

“Yeah” Niall rasps out, squeezing his eyes shut and taking deep breaths, “Yeah, she is, she is.” Greg doesn’t hang up in the five minutes it takes him to come back to himself, instead, he mutters calming and reassuring words as Niall feels his heartbeat getting back to normal again. “I’m coming, okay? I’ll, I don’t know, get in the first flight I find and I’ll call you when I’m there.”

“You sure? I can pick you up.”

“No, no, please, just. Just go to the hospital and keep me updated, yeah? Tell mum to hang there for me” he sniffles, willing himself not to cry.

“I will, Ni. Take care.”

He hangs up shortly after they say goodbye and stays sitting in the same position until he swallows down his tears and comes back to his senses. He starts throwing random clothes inside his green backpack. Before going downstairs, he briefly considers calling Harry, but he decides against it, going instead to Liam’s room and shaking him awake not as gently as he usually does when he’s late. “Li. Liam, wake up, Payno, I’m going home.” And that does it, Liam leaps out of the covers to gape at Niall with a wild and heavy-eyed look in his eyes.

“What do you mean you’re going home, are you aware it’s not even eight in the morning? Don’t you have work tomo-“

“Liam, Liam, slow it down, will ya?” Niall smiles softly at him, “I’m sorry I had to wake you this early but... Greg called and, he said-“ He glances down at his lap and closes his eyes, “Mum’s at hospital” he sighs out. “I don’t know what happened, Greg didn’t say anything. But I have to go Li, like, right now, just wanted to say goodbye before leaving, you can go back to sleep, yeah?”

“Have you lost your mind?” Liam asks bewilderedly, “I’m taking you to the airport, c’mon. Do you really thought I would let you go alone?” he’s already out of bed, taking a sweatshirt and shorts out of his closet, “Go on, go eat something while I brush my teeth real fast.”

“I’m not-“

“I won’t take an “I’m not hungry” as an answer” he points out a finger at him, “Go Ni, I’ll be done in five minutes.”

So he does. He eats an apple and packs a bag of cookies in his bag. They’re in Liam’s car in less than five minutes. Seeing as it’s still pretty early on a Sunday morning, the streets are quite empty and they arrive to the airport promptly.

 

“Call me when you land, Niall, and call me when you know how your mum’s doing, yeah? Just call me. I want to make sure you’re okay.” Liam mumbles in the crook of Niall’s neck when they are hugging goodbye. Niall’s plane has already been announced, and the dread and anxiety start to take over Niall’s chest again.

“I will, Payno. Promise.”

“Greet the family for me, and tell Zayn he has to come visit more often!” Liam says, earning a smile out of Niall. “Christmas break is not the only time off he has for his long distance friends.”

“I’ll tell him, Li” Niall nods, “If, you know, if Harry asks can you, like, tell him I’m home and, yeah. Yeah?”

Liam chuckles sadly at him, “You’ll need to talk with him eventually, but okay, I’ll let him know. Now go! That plane’s waiting for you.”

They hug one more time before Niall boards the plane. A fleeting feeling of melancholy passes him when he thinks is Harry who should be waving him goodbye, but he brushes it off, trying not to let negative thoughts drown his mind until the plane lands and he can finally see his mum again.

 

\--

 

“Dad, I need to talk to you.” Harry says as he steps into his dad’s office at home, feeling almost brave that he came in without knocking, but still overwhelmingly inadequate and anxious. He’s finally doing what he should have done since day one. Since way before Niall bounced into his life. “It’s, uh, important.” He clears his throat, needing his voice to be strong and steady. This is for Niall, he thinks, for all the happiness he’s brought him in such a short amount of time. It’s for hurting him with his silence, for the courage he’s given him in just two months. But it’s also for him, for all the years he kept his mouth shut as his dad took every decision for him, for all the dissatisfaction he feels every time he leaves a class. It’s for both of them.

“Mind giving me ten minutes? I need to sort some things I left unattended during my trip and-“

“Dad,” Harry starts, “This can’t wait, really. It feels as if I’ve been waiting years for you to find time to talk to me.”

“Harry, what is this all about? We talk every day, at dinner and breakfast. Sometimes I also come for lunch.” Des says. Harry feels offended at the indignant tone of his dad’s voice.

“No, we don’t,” Harry stats, “you don’t talk to me, you talk about me. You talk about every aspect of my life and you criticize it, even if you have always had the last word in every choice I’m supposed to take!”

“Are you having a moment, Harry?” The older man says, taking off his glasses and crossing his hands on top of the table, “I don’t have time for one of your rants right now, son.”

“Are you even listening to me? Do you ever?” Harry shouts, “Take me seriously for one second and listen to me, dad, I’m not here to rant, as you like to call it, much less to fight, I just want to talk to you!”

“Okay, lower your voice and tell me, I’m listening.”

“I changed my major.” Harry blurts out and stifles a laugh when he sees the look in his dad’s face.

“You did what? When did this happen? Did you drop out of university?!” He fumes.

“I’m a sociology major now, dad, of course I didn’t drop out,” Harry replies calmly, “It happened two days ago, on Monday. When I told you I couldn’t be home to the welcome home dinner Marta cooked for you.”

“I don’t understand where you are going with this. University is not a game, you can’t change your whole career and life plans in a rush, without even consulting me, I’m your dad.”

“I didn’t change my life plans, I just changed yours.” Harry says simply. Straight to the point. “It also wasn’t something I decided suddenly. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, almost a year, I think, and I had a bunch other options, but sociology fits me better, dad. That’s _my_  thing. It’s what I like, what I can see myself doing when I’m older.” The room is silent, and something in his dad’s eyes tell him he’s actually listening, so he continues, “This is not a game for me. I feel as serious and as compromised with uni as you want me to be, I want to graduate and be an honour student as much as you want me to, dad, but I’m not aiming for the same thing as you.”

“Wait a minute. Are you implying you never wanted to take over my company? The whole Styles’ business is not appealing to you? You don’t want to be a part of it?” Des asks, brows furrowed in his forehead, making him look older than he actually is.

“It is appealing. But it’s not for me. That’s yours, you’re so good at what you do, you look like you genuinely enjoy it but it all seems like a load of crap to me. Sorry to put it like that.”

“I forced all this life onto you, didn’t I?” Harry’s dad asks. He looks down to the desk, looking ashamed and remorseful, if Harry is not seeing things, “I never even asked you.” He continues, shaking his head.

“You didn’t. But I’m not blaming you, that’s not what I’m here for.” Harry reassures him, “I should have done this ages ago. When you first starting telling my high school teachers to give me extra math classes. When you enrolled me into uni and explained me all the economic and financial classes I had to take. I should have told you then, but I didn’t, and that’s in the past. Right now, I want you to understand that how you see my future is not how I see it, and before I was scared, of your rejection or disappointment, I don’t know, but now I see how my number one priority should be to reach my goals and give myself a chance to live up my dreams, and I really hope you can understand.”

Des stays silent for a while, and Harry gives him time. Respectfully looking away when his eyes turn sad and Harry sees a small glint of tears shinning through the wrinkly skin. “Your mom always told me you disliked my job, you know?” The man starts, smiling sadly and taking a handkerchief out of his suit’s pocket, hastily wiping away any remain of tears. “She told me that if I didn’t spare you some of my time, I’d never be able to get you into the company” he says, “It hurts that she was right all along, that she still is, even if she’s not here anymore.”

“Dad-“

“No, wait. Let me finish. You have every right to be mad at me. I was stubborn and blind and so selfish. But you’re not, you are here telling me all of this and you sound truly sincere when you say you’re not blaming me, even if you should be mad, even a little. Harry, because you haven’t been happy these past two years, I’ve seen you, but I didn’t know how to approach you, I didn’t know how to talk to my own son, and it scared me. Ironically enough, we were both scared, and we made this harder for both of us. But you have to know, no matter what, I’ll always be proud of you. Your well being has always been one of my main priorities, even if, I know, I never showed it much. I care about you so much, Harry, and you can be sure I’ll support you in every project you set yourself in. I want to be part of your life and I want you to be able to tell me anything, to not shut me off anymore.” Des finishes. Harry getting a bit teary himself.

 “I- wow, I definitely thought it would be harder to convince you that I was doing the right thing,” Harry chuckles, idly brushing his thumb over his eyes, “Thank you.”

“You have nothing to thank me for.”

“I, well, now that we got over the uni thing, there’s another thing I have to tell you, equally important.” Harry says nervously.

“And, what is it?” Des asks cheerfully, making Harry feel more at ease. It’s his dad after all. And if he says he’s going to be there for every step Harry takes, his reaction after this should be the proof that he’s actually being honest.

“I’m gay.” Harry says, heart pounding painfully.

“Okay.” Des replies, gently but not uninterested. “I have a feeling you are going to continue that sentence.” He says, as matter of factly, Harry breathes out a restless laugh.

“I do, yeah. I just. Don’t interrupt me okay? I have, uh, you know, Niall?”

“The chimney cleaner?” Des inquires.

“Yeah, yeah, him. Niall. We, we’ve been sort of dating for a while now and I, well, we have been, or, we were, in a relationship for about a week but we’re not- not currently talking because I’m an absolute ass and-“

“Harry, Harry. You’re throwing a bunch of information at me.” Des says and Harry rubs his whole face with his hands before taking a breath and starting again.

“Yeah, sorry. Okay here we go. We started dating about two months ago, like, right before he finished with the chimney, and things, well, moved fast since then. I asked him to be my boyfriend last week and, things were right you know? It was great. But that day you left, on Friday, he realised I hadn’t told you about him at all, like, not even as friends, while his family back in Ireland all know so, yeah, he- he got really mad and I hurt him and, we haven’t said a word to each other since then.”

“And why aren’t you trying to get him back?” Harry’s dad asks, with a hint of a teasing smile on his face.

“Wait, what? Are you kidding? You- this means you approve it?” Harry’s racing heart threatening to come out from his mouth.

“Son, I have nothing to approve here. The boy clearly makes you happy. I haven’t seen those cheeks of yours as rosy as they’ve been lately. He’s bringing a good side of you. I wish you could have told me sooner, of course, but I’m glad you found someone, and Niall seems like a good lad” Des smiles at him, he actually looks genuinely happy for Harry. “You do have to introduce him to me again, though, as your boyfriend.” The last word comes so naturally out of his mouth that Harry laughs. Letting all the anxiety that had been building up inside him for the last five days. Feeling free, content, and blissful, despite the fact that he still needs to apologize to Niall, he’s in high spirits. He just heard all he ever needed to hear from his dad.

He engulfs Des in a hug shortly after he feels himself getting teary again and they hug strong and long until it seems like everything is falling in the right place.

 

\--

 

Harry decides to call Liam’s house after giving up on dialling Niall’s phone number. He’s spent enough time moping and repeating in his head everything that lead to the fight, now it’s time to do something. Niall is clearly the kind of person who prefers actions over words, and Harry is not going to fuck it up this time.

But apparently, nothing ever goes as he plans it, because no one picks up the phone after four times trying and he grunts in frustration before announcing to Marta that he’s going out and he will have lunch when he gets back (with Niall, hopefully) and he starts his car to go over to Liam’s.

 

He feels like he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is when Liam opens the door, it is, after all, Liam’s house, but he had expected it to be Niall. As far as he remembers, Liam is supposed to be at class and Niall should be having a lunch break. “Uh, Liam. Hi! Is Niall inside?” he asks carefully, almost certain that Liam is rightfully pissed off at him for making Niall sad.

“No, he’s not here, Harry.” Liam replies, not giving away more information.

“Do you, maybe, know when he’s coming back?”

Liam sighs loudly at that, as if he’s physically restraining himself from slapping Harry hard in the face. “He’s not coming back any time soon, Haz” he says with a wince. “I would let you come in to explain you a bit better but, mum has people over, they are having tea and whatnot, but, Niall’s not here.”

“You already said that. Where is he then?”

“He’s in Ireland.” Liam spits out.

“What?! What the hell do you mean in Ireland? When did he go? Why didn’t he tell me?! Is it because of what happened on Friday? Is it because of me?” Harry asks in a rush, going through a downhill of emotions, to shocked, worried, angry, guilty and terribly miserable all in a span of ten seconds.

“Listen, Harry. Hey, calm down. He was really upset when he came home last Friday, I wanted to break a few bones of yours for making him feel like that, and if he forgives you - which I’m sure he will, it’s Niall we’re talking about – and you do it again, I won’t hesitate to punch you.” Liam says, behind all the mask of seriousness and anger, Harry sees all the affection he has towards Niall, he appreciates it, everyone should always protect Niall as much as Liam does.

“Believe me, mate, there won’t be a repeat, and if it sadly happens again, I won’t stop you from smashing my face, I deserve it.”

Liam looks comforted by Harry’s answer, but he’s still smiling sadly at him. “That’s good to know. But, I’m sure Niall doesn’t want me to talk with you about this, is your mess after all, not mine to snoop into.” He says smiling reassuringly at him, but it turns into a wince after a few seconds, “Niall’s mum is sick. She was rushed into hospital last Sunday. Niall flew right away, and told me not to call you, just, to tell you if you asked and, well here you are. I haven’t talked to him since Sunday, just a few texts here and there.”

Harry pales after Liam stops talking, feels a knot in his throat that doesn’t let him breathe properly, “Oh God, I’m the worst person ever.” Harry stresses out, “I’m the worst _boyfriend_  ever, what am I doing? what should I do, Liam, he’s not answering my calls. He hasn’t replied to my texts since Friday. _God_. He probably needs me and I’m not. I’m not there!”

“Harry! Breathe, Jesus Christ. He’s not alone you know, he’s got his brother and dad, also Zayn, his best friend from back home is there, I talked to him, he’s been looking out for Niall these past few days. He refused to go home, the poor thing, Zayn is with him, but he has to go back to classes tomorrow, and even if you’re not asking for advice Harry, you should go.”

“Go to Ireland?” He asks, eyes wide.

“No, go home, you idiot!” Liam chuckles, but Harry doesn’t feel offended, Liam actually looks fond of him, maybe sympathetic if he thinks about it. “Of course, go to Ireland, he needs you to be there. Surprise him, make it up to him and show him that you actually care about him.”

 “Yeah, yeah. Fuck, okay. I’m going, I- I need a plane to go there! Liam will I be able to catch a flight right now? I-“

Liam is softly laughing at him, “C’mon, stop freaking out, yeah? He’s okay, and things will be okay between you both. I’ll take you to the airport, okay? You’re not in a good state to drive right now. Leave your car here if you want. I’m gonna tell my mom. Don’t go anywhere!”

 

Liam convinces him they have enough time to stop by his house to pack a small bag and let Marta and his dad know he’s going _out of the country_ , it all feels too overwhelming, but he forces himself to stay calm. For Niall.

They get to the airport half an hour after. Harry feeling a bit more sick the closer they get to the front doors, but Liam does a good job at soothing his impeding nerves. Liam is patient with him. He reminds Harry that once he gets there and once he sees Niall, every single doubt will be vanished from his mind. Niall is not going anywhere.

 

\--

 

He arrives to Mullingar with cramped legs and an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Partly because he hates train rides, but mostly because he’s lost. It’s his first time in Ireland. First time in Mullingar. He doesn’t know where to go, who to ask. In the middle of his panic, he forgets he has a very useful phone in his pocket, it’s not until it buzzes harshly against his chest that he remembers Liam told him to call him to give him directions.

 

 

Liam – bless him – says he should ask in the reception for Zayn Malik, Niall’s friend, and he’d take him to Maura’s hospital room – take him to _Niall_.

It feels a bit haunting and scary. He feels like this is not the kind of situation he pictured for meeting the infamous Zayn Malik. But remembering all the times Niall babbled on and on about how Zayn’s eyelashes are miraculous and how he has unreal cheekbones, Harry is able to spot him easily.

“You’re Harry, right?” The bloke asks him right away, not smiling, but with a warm gaze that makes Harry’s nervousness slip away.

“Yeah, I’m Harry. Harry Styles. I’m guessing you’re Zayn?”

“I am, yeah, mate. God, Niall described you so well, you know? I saw you and I straight up knew it was you.” Zayn says with a crackle.

“Niall knows I’m here?” Harry asks.

“Oh no, no, Liam told me not to tell him. But, Niall, you know, Niall talks a lot about you, like, everywhere. Texts and Skype and even when I ring him. Always ends up talking about what you to were up to since the last time.” Zayn smiles at him, a bit more reserved, narrowing his eyes at Harry. He has the brief feeling that Zayn knows things are not right with Niall, but none of them talk as Zayn leads them through corridor after corridor.

“Hey, I know it’s not my place to say this but, it will mean a lot to him that you’re here.” Zayn says, stopping and pointing at a row of white doors, “If you walk straight until you find a small reception and then turn right, you’ll get to a small waiting room. When you’re there, just look for the room 425, got it?” Zayn tilts his head to look at him.

“Yeah. Okay. Will it be okay if I knock like-”

“Don’t worry about that. When I left the room, Niall was inside with his brother, Bobby is at the pharmacy, waiting for me actually, so I have to get going, but don’t worry. Maura is asleep and Greg won’t bother you at all.”

Harry is more concerned about him bothering _them_  but he nods anyway. Thanking Zayn with a quick hug and returning a smile when Zayn pats him on the back.

It’s easy to find the small reception Zayn mentioned. There are about ten seats and a small, old T.V that looks like no one has turned it on in years. But what catches Harry’s attention is the small blonde that’s sitting in one of the chairs. Right in front the room 425. He’s sat with his legs bent and elbows resting on his knees. Long and pale fingers messing with his dirty blonde hair.

Harry can’t see his face from where he’s standing, but Niall’s whole posture shows just how tired he must be. His right foot is tapping incessantly on the floor, he slightly raises his head, breath caught in Harry’s throat, as Niall rubs his eyes and yawns.

Harry can’t stand there for longer, arms itching to wrap themselves around a cold-looking Niall. He walks towards him, leaving a bit of distance between each other, just in case Niall asks him to leave.

“Niall?”

He doesn’t turn to look up at Harry right away, but he freezes and tenses noticeably. He slowly turns his head to look up at him, his eyes wide and glassy. He looks exhausted, but he stands up in lightning speed and tangles himself in Harry’s arms, arms squeezing and tight around Harry’s neck. Harry can tell he’s on his tip toes by the unstable movement of his legs. He’s muttering a mantra of _y_ _ou’re here, you’re here. Fuck, you’re really here, I thought I had lost you, Harry, you’re here!_  as he sways in Harry’s grasp.

Harry lets out a sigh of relief and wraps his arms tighter around Niall’s tiny waist. His hands are restlessly pulling and grabbing at Niall’s shirt, face nuzzled in Niall’s hair, leaving small kisses all over his temples. “Of course I’m here,” Harry rasps out against Niall’s hair, “I’m sorry it took me so long to clear up my head and grow up some courage. But I’m here, and I’m sorry I left you while all of this happened.”

He grabs Niall by his hips, pulling away gently and slow, until Niall’s tear stained face comes into view again. He brushes away some tears, looking concernedly at Niall, “How are you?” he asks, grazing his fingers up and down Niall’s blotchy cheeks, “How’s your mum?”

“She’s okay now,” Niall shakily breathes out, “She’s finally on the mend. It was just a huge scare. They said she can go home in a few hours, when she wakes up.” Niall smiles at him and Harry tries to return it as brightly, but noticing how pale Niall looks, how his eyes seem to be dropping every time he blinks, he’s just worried.

“And you? You look tired, Ni.”

“I’ve slept here for the past three days,” Niall explains, not wanting to go into details about how grabbing a cab to come and leave would have been too expensive, much more now that his mum needs more medication. “The nurses let me shower in the bathrooms but, I’m still wearing the same clothes, sorry for that” he looks down, biting his raw lip.

“No need to say sorry, you’re not smelly at all,” Harry smiles, “you just look like you need some good rest and a long night sleep, yeah?”

Niall nods, “Yeah, the chairs are as uncomfortable as they look” he tries to joke, but no laugh comes out of him. He feels exhausted, drained even. Feels like every bone in his body is aching and he’s drowsy because now that he’s in Harry’s arms he’s not as cold anymore.

“Have you eaten something?” Harry inquires.

“Just some coffee and cookies that Greg gave me but, don’t worry ‘bout me, I’m fine” he shrugs.

“You’re fine except you look really pale and you’re freezing to the touch.” Harry snorts, “You need to eat a proper meal, Ni. What do you say if we sit down a bit, you can use me as your pillow, I’ll let you sleep for a while and I’ll wake you up when the doctor says we can leave okay? Then I’m buying dinner.”

“Sounds good, yeah.” Niall mutters, already leading them to the seat where he was sitting before. He nestles in Harry’s arms until he finds a comfortable position, and Harry wraps his jacket around him, trying to warm Niall up and make every goose pimple in his pale skin disappear.

Niall is sound asleep not even five minutes after that.

 

\--

 

About twenty minutes after Niall fell asleep, who Harry supposes is Greg comes out of the hospital room, looking slightly better than Niall, at least he doesn’t look like he could fall asleep standing. The man turns to look at him, and when he notices Niall sleeping in Harry arms, with his legs thrown over Harry’s lap and his head resting in his shoulder, he smiles at Harry.

“Are you Harry?” he asks.

“Yeah, I am, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Harry greets, disentangling his right arm from Niall’s grasp so he can shake Greg’s hand.

“Good to finally meet you, man. My bro has talked about you a lot.” He says with a laugh. “I’m Greg, Niall’s older brother, and it’s a shame we meet under these circumstances.” He says making a sour face.

“Yeah, but, Niall told me she’s doing well, yeah? Are things alright?”

“Oh yes, she is better. She’s allowed to go home today. Her blood sugar levels were too high and there were lots of complications, but, the ambulance was fast enough and now she’s safe.” He explains.

“That’s good. Did the doctors tell you when they’re discharging her? I promised Niall I’d wake him up by then but, he’s a heavy sleeper and it takes me like ten minutes to get him up in the mornings.” Harry chuckles, brushing Niall’s hair away from his forehead.

Greg doesn’t say anything about the fact that Harry just admitted they’ve slept together, and he’s fine with that. He’s shaking his head at Harry, looking at Niall with worry in his eyes, “No, don’t wake him up.” Greg begs, “He hasn’t been getting enough sleep, refused to go home even when mam herself asked him to.” He says sadly. “Take him home.”

“What?”

“I’d go with you but, we’re trying not to take cabs every time we leave and come. I’ll help you catch one and, here. This is the key,” He says, getting it out of his pocket, “You’ll find the house easily. Come on, I’ll call when mum can go home.”

Harry tries to move as slowly as possible as he wraps one arm under Niall’s knees and the other in his back, he stands up carefully, not wanting to wake up Niall from his slumber. 

“Do you want me to give you a hand? I can carry him until we get to the first floor.” Greg asks.

“Oh no, I’ve got him. He’s as light as a feather.” Harry smiles, kissing softly Niall’s nose.

Greg gets them in a cab easily, and tells the driver the address of the house, “It’s a small one, with a green rooftop and blue walls, the door says ‘Horan’s’, you won’t miss it.” Greg says before he closes the door and waves goodbye.

 

Finding the house is easy, just as Greg said, but it requires more effort to open the front door with Niall sleeping in his arms.

He feels like he’s intruding once he gets inside. It’s warm and cosy, with lots of family pictures on the walls. Greg said he’d know Niall’s room as soon as he saw it. And he does, is full of derby and band posters and an Irish flag taking over one of the walls. The bed is small but he’s sure they both can fit there.

He lies Niall down gently, shushing him when he grunts and mumbles something that sounds like “don’t leave.” He looks deeply sleep still, and he can’t resist the urge to cuddle him for hours, kiss him for all the days they didn’t even see each other.

He kisses his forehead tenderly and rummages through Niall’s closet to find a bedspread. He’s not as cold as he was in the hospital, but his cheeks are not as rosy as Harry is used to see them. Once he finds a large and fluffy blanket, he lies down, spooning Niall from behind and letting Niall’s snores be a lullaby for him.

 

\--

 

Niall wakes up not more than two hours after, feeling somewhat lost and sluggish. He’s in his bed, and that confuses him more than anything, but when the blurriness in his eyes fades away, he finds Harry beside him, smiling fondly at him.

“Hi” Harry says, the corners of his mouth rising when Niall smiles at him too.

“Hi” Niall says through a yawn, “when did we get here?”

“A few hours ago. Greg told me to take you home to let you sleep better, they’re still at the hospital, he promised to call when your mum gets discharged.”

“Wait, so you met my brother already? And you carried me here? Fuck, what did you and Greg talk about?” he asks, feeling more awake.

“He just told me you talk about me a lot,” Harry teases, “and so did Zayn.”

Niall groans and falls back on the bed again. “Shut up, no.”

Harry laughs at him, “The pictures they have in the living room are so cute, you know? You were an adorable child.”

“Haaarry!” Niall whines, but ends up laughing when Harry starts to tickle his sides and kissing his neck. When Harry’s face comes into view again, Niall strokes his cheek and jaw with his hand, while the other plays with his hair, “Thank you, Haz” he whispers, their lips almost touching.

“For what?” Harry asks, pecking Niall’s lips.

“For coming here, being here” Niall replies, giving in to Harry’s kisses. They stay like that for a while, until Harry breaks the silence.

“I talked to my dad.” He whispers.

Niall’s eyes are wide as he looks expectantly at Harry “And? How did it go?”

“He approves,” Harry smiles at him, “He says there’s no problem as long as I know what I’m doing.” Before Niall can muster up a reply, he continues, “I also changed my major.” He blurts out.

He’s never seen a smile so big on Niall’s face and he himself probably hasn’t had a smile quite as big as the one he has right now, neither. “I’m a sociology major now.”

Niall reaches up his arms to grab his neck, his scalp and his cheeks, until he finally leans in and kisses Harry with everything he’s got “I’m so proud of you.”

“I wouldn’t have done it without you.”

“I wasn’t there so, technically, you did it without me.” He smiles.

They snog some more, hands desperate to touch every inch of skin they missed during the past five days. Niall feels secure in Harry’s embrace, he lets go of all the unease and worry that were getting too much for him, and he lets Harry lead the pace, waits for Harry’shands to start playing with the hem of his shirt, for his fingers to start wandering across his skin, tickling softly, making him whimper into the kiss. “You said we’re the only ones in the house?” Niall pants out when they let go to breathe. Harry smirks at him and nods, taking off Niall’s shirt without giving Niall time to react and he leans down again, mouth and tongue wetting a path down from his neck to his belly.

“Do you want this?” Harry rasps out, looking up to see Niall’s hair dishevelled and his pupils all black.

“I do” Niall says, softly but sure of his words, “I want you, Harry.”

And that’s all the encouragement Harry needs to start fumbling with Niall’s zipper, getting off Niall’s pants and socks in one go. Niall stops him there, pulling him up by his hair and mumbling a “Take yours off too.” Before he crashes their lips together again.

Once Harry is only in his boxers too, he keeps kissing Niall’s chest, sucking and biting and moaning when Niall arches up to him. Niall’s flawless pale skin is flushed and sweaty, nipples hard and begging to be touched.

He smirks when he circles his tongue around his left nipple, Niall grunts loud, scratching Harry’s back. Harry wants to ruin him.

“Tell me you have lube somewhere in this room.” Harry says, lifting himself up and trailing his gaze down Niall’s body.

The blonde nods, pointing up a shaky finger towards the bedside table, “In one of those drawers, I think.”

Harry wiggles his eyebrows at him when he founds it, making Niall chuckle, “You’re ridiculous,” Niall giggles, but it turns into a drawn out moan when Harry palms him through his boxers. “Fuck, Haz.”

Harry takes his time teasing Niall, dragging his boxers down Niall’s thighs slowly, leaving scattered kisses along his thin legs. Niall is whining underneath him as Harry keeps caressing every inch of skin.

When Harry takes him into his mouth, Niall isn’t expecting it. Too engrossed out on every sloppy kiss to notice that Harry’s sitting between his legs now. He gasps when Harry licks the tip, fingers wrapped around the base and pumping slowly. He closes his eyes, grasping the sheets tightly and just _feeling_  how Harry’s skilled tongue brings him to the edge. When Niall’s legs start to shake and the noises he’s making spin out of control, Harry lets him go. He kisses his hips, his stomach, until he reaches his lips. The kiss is messy, hot and heavy and all too soon Harry is pulling back. Coating his fingers with lube and looking at Niall, gazing down at him and waiting for the nod that Niall gives him without a single doubt.

He gets back kneeling between Niall’s spread legs. Slippery fingers tickling his legs and slowly reaching Niall’s opening, teasing around the rim until Niall whines brokenly, “Please, c’mon.” And Harry is done for. He slips a finger inside, slowly, watching carefully Niall’s face for any sign of discomfort. He keeps it there, embed knuckle deep inside Niall until it gets too much, Niall starts buckling up his hips, grasping the sheets tighter and trying to fuck himself with Harry’s finger, broken and pleading moans getting louder as Harry adds a second finger.

Niall whimpers, it hurts, but it’s good, so good. His hips jolt as Harry’s finger continues its way and starts opening him up, gently and slow, until they stop, curling up a bit and reaching _something_  that has Niall growling out a moan. He’s overcome with bliss, he feels it spreading through every limb.  

Right there, sprawled out and flushed beneath Harry, he feels an exhilarating burst of pure love and adoration rushing through his body, he whimpers, needed more, wanting Harry closer to whisper in his ear how good he’s making him feel. He feels stretched already, but he feels Harry slipping inside another finger, earning more heaved groans from a breathless Niall.

“Harry, fuck, please, just, fuck” He stammers, faintly recognizing the sound of Harry moaning atop of him. He opens his eyes and looks down, lifting his head a little to catch the most amazing sight he’s ever had. Harry is stroking himself, at the same pace he keeps moving his fingers inside of Niall, dick looking shiny and wet with lube and chest heaving shallowly. Niall can’t take this any longer. “Haz, fuck me, Jesus Christ, just fucking - ah, do it.”

He shudders when Harry’s fingers slip out, emptiness causing a helpless whine to fall out his lips.

“You look so good right now,” Harry says as he crawls up to kiss Niall, lining up in Niall’s entrance and kissing away a whimper when the tip pushes inside. Niall’s ankles are crossed in Harry’s back, getting him closer, eager for Harry to go faster.

Harry glances down as Niall as he keeps pushing inside, wiping away with his fingers the furrows in his brows, kisses away every wince and cherishes every moan. “Are you okay? Tell me when to move.” Harry whispers, nibbling his ear and brushing his fingers against Niall’s dick. It twitches under him, he uses the pre come gathered on the tip to make the friction better for Niall, and it works, Niall grips Harry’s arms, getting them up and around Harry’s neck, and he nods, opening his eyes to look up at Harry, “Move, go on, I’m ready.”

He lets go of Niall’s cock to lift himself with his hands on each side by Niall’s head, thrusting slowly. He struggles to find a rhythm, pulling out slowly and teasing Niall, then thrusting in hard again. Niall looks beautiful beneath him, panting and sweaty, the blush spreading out to his chest. He keeps biting his lip, muffling whimpers when Harry gets close to that spot again.

“Faster, Harry, go faster, fuck.” Harry is happy to comply, griping Niall’s lips and fucking harder into him, he hits Niall’s prostate dead on, and the blonde lets go of Harry’s neck to reach out and touch his neglected cock that’s throbbing and leaking with every brush of Harry’s skin against him. “So close, I’m so close, Harry, touch me, please, just-“

Niall’s dick is hard and slick in Harry’s grasp as he jerks him off in time with his thrusts, Niall’s needy whimpers increasing with every move. Harry’s close too, muffling his groans in Niall’s neck when keeping himself up with his arms requires too much effort.

“Harry, Harry, fuck, Haz, yeah, don’t stop” Niall pants, Harry grazes his thumb over Niall’s slit and that does it, Niall moans loud, arousal reaching its peak as he releases all over his stomach, thighs trembling and hands squeezing Harry’s arms tightly as Harry helps him ride it out. He goes limp in Harry’s arm after a minute, grabbing Harry by his neck and kissing him roughly, brushing his lips against Harry’s earlobe and murmuring a dirty, “Come for me, Haz.” And Harry empties his release inside Niall. Gasping and groaning as his dick swells one last time, feeling everything so intensely he feels overwhelmed, trying to slow down the shallow and irregular thrusts as Niall whines and winces, both on the edge of overstimulation.

He pulls out carefully, intertwining Niall’s fingers in his and kissing his knuckles when Niall hisses and cries out in discomfort. He shushes him, patting Niall’s chest gently and lovingly as Niall’s panting fades away.

He falls down beside Niall after he kisses him softly, smothering him with little kisses everywhere he can reach without jostling too much. “Hey, are you okay?” Harry whispers, lifting Niall’s chin to look at him.

“Yeah, yeah I am.” Niall smiles sleepily at him, “I love you.”

Regardless of the fact that Harry had always been scared about the first time they said those three words to each other, right now, all he feels is peace and affection. It feels right. He smiles, big and proud as he looks adoringly at Niall, “I do too. I love you, Ni.”

They manage to cuddle for a while despite the mess they both are in, “We should probably clean up a bit, before they get home and find us like this” Niall grins.

“Yeah, you’re right. But not yet, come and kiss me again.”

It takes them an hour to get up groggily after snogging the time away, but when Greg calls, saying that they’re arriving in less than ten minutes, they bolt out of bed, laughing and kissing in-between their attempts at cleaning.

 

\--

 

When Harry gets to finally meet Niall’s family, it’s like he gets small flashbacks of that time in his bed when Niall told him everything about his life, like he can hear Niall ‘s voice in his head, giving a little introduction to each member of his family.

He grabs Bobby’s hand and shakes it slowly, letting the man set the pace and the force of the handshake, but they’re both gentle and the man smiles genuinely at him the whole time.  He doesn’t look old, maybe a bit tired, if Harry’s being honest, but he looks kind and lovely and his eyes still hold a bit of the brightness that he sees on Niall’s.

_He’s a good man, he’s worked so hard to give us the best he could, always keeping a smile on his face to keep us happy and cheery._

“It’s a pleasure to meet you finally, Harry” Bobby says, accent think and voice rich, kind but loud enough to make you listen to every word he says.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr Horan” Harry replies with a bright smile, feeling like it’s appropriate because Bobby is _beaming_  at him.

 _He used to take me to derby games when I was a kid, we had the best time in the world, even if we came back home without money and in real need of a shower, those are the best memories I have of him. That, and cleaning chims with him. He gave me lessons to last me a lifetime you know, he’s an irreplaceable part of my life_.

“Oh, c’mon, I’m not up for that stuff, call me Bobby if you want some of that Irish stew Maura and I cook so well!” Harry laughs at the man’s cheerfulness, and turns to greet Niall’s mum.

_Me mum is a total angel, the queen of my life. Would be nowhere without her. She has a heart of gold, and a brain to match. I used to be good at math because of her._

Maura is small and chubby and she has Niall’s nose and smile. “Oh Harry, it’s so good to finally put a face on all the compliments and stories my son has told me about you!” she smiles at him, and out of the corner of his eye, Harry can see Niall blushing.

“The pleasure is totally mine, Mrs Horan”

“Please just call me Maura, no need to such formalities in here, we’re family!” she says with a smile. And yeah, Harry sees that. This is a small house where a small family has laughed, cried and shared irreplaceable moments together. It fits. _Th_ _ey_  fit, it makes Harry ache for something he never had, something unknown he never got to call _his family_.

_My parents, they divorced when I was ‘bout five, but decided to live together just a while ago, six years ago I think, after me mum got sick, they’ve always been like that, friends before anything, taught me to be caring and to never hold a grudge._

Niall still introduces him to Greg, even if they spent a while talking while Niall was asleep. Harry thinks Greg is nice, funny in his own way and a great dad for little Theo. Trying to make a bit more of space for himself in Niall’s heart.

_Me brother and I were never really close, we had pretty bad fights, you know, physical and all, and we tried to fix it as we grew, but it was rotten, right from the start, we are civil to each other, and he’s important for me, but I see him in a different way like, as if I would feel more comfortable talking with my cousins, or even Liam, than him, it’s weird, older siblings are weird._

“Harry, I’ve already told you this but, you’re always welcome here, mate, this, as mum said, is family, for you too.”

They are absolutely wonderful. Harry’s been in awe since his first arrived, from the moment they trusted so easily in him, gave him a key to their house even if he’s just a stranger for them, no matter how much Niall talks about him. They make him feel safe and warm, they eat together and they all talk, including Harry in the conversation. Is the closest to home Harry has ever felt despite the fact he’s in another country.

 

\--

 

They go back to London a few days after, after spending the mornings cuddling and the evenings out, they feel like it’s time to go back. Harry has to enrol new classes and Niall said he wanted to apply to uni too, to give it try. It makes Harry feel so proud he actually weeps a bit when Niall tells him he got a job at a local pub to play his guitar and sing some songs on Fridays and weekends.

Zayn takes them to the airport after picking them up from the train station and Niall has a teary goodbye with his best friend. Harry promises to come back more often and Niall swears to call to update him on the uni progress. Harry doesn’t mean to snoop, but he can hear Zayn whispering a “Even if you don’t get in, I’m so proud of you, I’m so glad you’re doing so well out there, Ni. I love you.” And Harry tries to hide the sad smile when Niall turns to look at him.

 

\--

 

“You did a really good job with the chimney, did I ever tell you that?” Harry asks, stroking Niall’s arm from where he’s sitting in the large sofa in his living room, with Niall’s back flat against his chest, “It looked awful before, and I didn’t even pay attention to it, but you gave it a glow, you know?”

Niall had helped him built a good fire to put the chimney in use after years of being forgotten, and now it’s working well. The last time Harry had even gotten near the chimney had been during Christmas when he was ten years old, and they had to turn it off after the house was filled with dark, black smoke and the fire fighters said the chimney pipes were broken.

“A glow?” Niall chuckles, “It was hard job, but I’m glad your house is not in risk of catching fire because of dodgy chimney pipes.”

There are a lot of things Harry wants to say. He wants Niall to know that the chimney cleaning was not only important for safety measures; it also was the thing that got him to meet Niall, the real and solid reason why they crossed paths. But he’s feeling too much to put it in words, so he just squeezes Niall’s hand, leaving butterfly kisses over the exposed skin on Niall’s neck.

Niall squeezes back, feeling quite nostalgic without a real reason to. Things are alright. His job at the pub is going strong, each day he gets more and more public and they have started to listen to him, instead of use him for background noise. They request him songs and give him pints. Niall has noticed that he sings love songs stupidly well when Harry goes to see him perform.

He’s saved enough money to apply for the first semester as a music major at the same university Harry is in next January, and things with Harry are going fantastic. He basically lives at Harry’s now. Leaving a pouty Liam each Friday because every weekend is solely for Harry.

“If there’s a thing I’m gonna miss, is getting home to see you all sweaty and hot when you were working on the chimney.” Harry jokes, playfully squeezing Niall’s hips.

Niall laughs, turning around in his grasp to straddle Harry’s thighs and lean in close, “You can always find another way to see me hot and sweaty whenever you’re up for it.” He smirks, making a funny face and wiggling his eyebrows at Harry, making him laugh.

Harry grabs him by the neck, whispers an “I love you,” brushing his lips against Niall’s.

“I know. I love you too, Haz.” Niall mumbles back, before leaning in all the way.

**Author's Note:**

> there it goes.
> 
> i hope you've enjoyed the bumpy ride... any and all mistakes are my own. Even if i read this thing 800 times, I feel like finding a spelling mistake here or there wouldn't be too surprising, i apologize.
> 
> i want to say special thanks for ALL the amazing people that gently pushed me into finishing this, you all know who you are.
> 
> see you next time :)


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